Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

Exodus 3

So Moses is out tending his father-in-law's flock when he notices a bush burning. Instead of thinking "this fire could cause amazing damage- I better put it out," he notices that the bush never burned up. Maybe his concern for a potential spreading flame led him to notice the odd quality of this "strange fire."

God speaks to him from the bush and tells him to take off his shoes since he's on holy ground and identifies Himself as the God of his ancestors. He tells Moses that he's seen the suffering of his people and that Moses is the one to lead them out- into a land flowing with milk and honey. I might prefer one flowing with pork-chops and diet pepsi- but it still sounds a whole lot better than slavery.

Moses says- whoa...who am I to handle this? God says- relax...I'll be with you.

Moses says the equivalent of- ok then...who are you to help me? Or more politely, "what's your name in case they ask me?"

God says "I AM who I AM." Tell them I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Tell them I've been watching and I'm going to get you out of this mess. You'll have plenty of milk and plenty of honey.

Tell the king that God has told you to take a three day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices. Of course he'll say no- until I show him what I can do. So I will- and then he'll let you go. In fact the people will like you so much that you won't even have to leave empty-handed. Let each woman ask neighbors and housemates for gold and clothes- and you'll end up plundering them.

A couple of ideas:

God chooses Moses, apparently not the most religious man. God identifies himself- and Moses still has to ask who He is. Granted, information was distributed much differently in that day and time but he still didn't seem to know much about this Being from the bush. It's so easy to puff yourself up when you see yourself as someone doing God's work. I worship regularly, I give to charity, I read the word- surely I'm on God's A-list. It looks like here that God has use for folks who might not fit into such an easily classifiable mold. And to puff ourselves up over others is silly and harmful.


Moses also seems to have learned some humility. He's gone from the Egyptian slaying, shepherd terrorizing potential peacebringer to someone who thinks...maybe I'm not qualified for such important work. While it seems like he displays a lack of confidence in God, maybe this quality of humility is what caused God to choose him in the first place. And maybe humility in my life would open doors of service too.

I'll keep looking for that bush.