Exodus 3:1-12
Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 5/30/10
The story is told that, many of years ago, now former President George W. Bush had been invited to speak at a political rally, and following the rally he was standing in the convention center lobby when he happened to notice a man in a long, flowing, white robe with a long, flowing, white beard and long, flowing, white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm. George W., struck by the man’s appearance, approached the man and asked, “Excuse me. But aren’t you Moses?” The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling. George W., unaccustomed to being ignored, tried again, “Excuse me. But aren’t you Moses?” The man continued staring at the ceiling. At this point, getting annoyed, George W. took hold of the man’s arm and turning him so that they faced one another, asked once again, “Excuse me. But aren’t you Moses?!” With this, the man finally responded in an irritated voice, “Yes I am.” George W. said, “Why were you ignoring me?” To which Moses replied, “Well, it’s like this: The last time I spoke to a Bush I had to spend forty years in the desert! Never again!”
A life forever changed by an encounter with a bush! The famous “Burning Bush” – Moses’ meeting with God and what it did to him, the dramatic transformation it worked in his life and what we learn from it – this is what I would like to look at this morning...
Today we return to our study of the life of Moses with the “second act” of the drama, a key transitional act in the story, the set-up for which is as follows:
Many years have passed since we last saw our hero. Specifically, 40 years have passed. A good way to remember the chronology of Moses’ life is like this:
Moses’ will live to be 120 years old and his life can be divided into 3, 40 year, sections: The first 40 years are spent growing up, living in the palace, in Egypt. Then, having killed a man and made a run for it, the second 40 years are spent hiding out, living the life of shepherd in the land of Midian – the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula. The final 40 years then to be spent leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Now, we pick things up today at roughly the close of the second period: Moses is 80 years old and God comes to call him to return to Egypt to lead the people of Israel out of captivity into freedom. And, as mentioned this marks a PIVOTAL MOMENT in Moses’ life: From a life going away from God, going wrong, hiding out... to a life of tremendous accomplishment, profound blessing, incredible nearness to God... A life close to God, filled to overflowing with God’s power, walking with God daily... Basically, God breaks into his life in a powerful way and it all begins with a BURNING BUSH.
What happens here? What does Moses discover here, what does he learn? What does he experience and how can we experience the same?
Simply put: Would you like to experience God in your life in a powerful way? Have a close, real, living relationship with the Lord? Do you ever feel like God is missing from your life and you’d like to turn that around? Well, I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions to make this happen...
From the story of Moses and the Burning Bush – FOUR BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR EXPERIENCING GOD (for enabling God to break through in a powerful way) IN OUR LIVES:
(I)
Principle #1: BE ALERT.
As the scene opens, Moses is up in the mountains, busy tending his flock, when he suddenly notices this bush that is on fire but it’s not being burned up. Needless to say, a most remarkable occurrence. It GETS HIS ATTENTION. And that’s the first point here:
God is there. God wants to have contact with Moses - to speak to him, to guide him, to call him, to be part of his life. But first he has to get his attention. And it’s the same with all of us...
The burning bush is, first of all, simply an “attention grabber”, in effect reminding us that God is ALWAYS THERE seeking to be part of our lives, to help us and to guide us. The question is: Are we noticing, are we PAYING ATTENTION to this – or are we going through life oblivious?
You know, contrary to popular belief, God doesn’t only speak to “special” people – God speaks to EVERYONE. And God doesn’t only speak to us occasionally, very rarely; no, God wishes to be in communication with us ALL THE TIME! As it is written in the Psalms:
“Day to day pours forth speech...” There is continual communication from heaven! “Their voice is not heard.” It isn’t necessarily an audible sound. “Yet their voice (the voices of the heavens) goes out through all the earth...” The words are there – God communicating constantly with those who have ears to hear!
God is continually reaching out to us, speaking to us – seeking to guide, encourage, call, help - and it comes down to whether we are seeking this out from our side! Are we open, receptive, seeking? People who have powerful experiences of God in the lives are, first of all, those who EXPECT God to reach out and speak to them every day; and who are thus ALERT to it – looking for it: “How is God trying to get my attention today? How is God reaching out to make contact with me today?” Realizing that, as with a burning bush, this contact is very likely to come in a most unusual way – or, at least, not necessarily in the way we are seeking.
It may be in a smile from a stranger, a call from a friend, the purr of a cat, the color of the sunset, a hug from a loved one, a word heard repeatedly, the laughter of a child... It may be in a familiar voice we’ve come to take for granted; it may be in a voice we least expect.
God reaching out to make contact, to talk to us. And how do you know if it’s God’s voice speaking not another’s? Well, as with Moses here: Is it affirming you though you have failed? Is it calling you into the lives of others in need? Is it asking the best from within you? A voice of affirmation and love and grace and challenge and service and hope; not a voice of condemnation and separation and judgment and status quo and cynicism. This is the litmus test.
First thing: Are we going through our lives ALERT to how God is trying to get our attention today? Or are we just going through life oblivious, unthinking, unnoticing – wondering why God never seems to reach out to us – even when we call? In his book, A Gentle Thunder, author Max Lucado writes:
“Once there was a man who dared God to speak: ‘I need you, God.’ He said. “Speak! Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God. And I will follow. Collapse the wall like you did for Joshua, God. And I will fight. Still the waves like you did in Galilee, God. And I will listen.’
“And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea and waited for God to speak.
“And God heard the man, so God answered. He sent fire, not for a bush, but for the work of the church. He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of bitterness. He stilled a storm, not of sea, but of soul. And God waited for the man to respond. And He waited... And He waited... And He waited...
“But because the man was looking at bushes and not hearts; bricks and not lives; sea and not souls; he decided that God had done nothing. Finally he looked to God and asked, ‘Have you lost your power?’
“And God looked at him and said, ‘Have you lost your hearing?’”
Burning Bush Principle #1 in experiencing God powerfully in one’s life: BE ALERT. God is continually reaching out to you!
(II)
Principle #2: GO BAREFOOT.
Having gotten Moses’ attention, God then speaks out of the burning bush and the first thing God says to him is: “Stop, take of your sandals. For the ground on which you are standing is holy.”
Moses suddenly discovers that this mountaintop (that he has undoubtedly been to many times before and thought nothing of), this familiar location for feeding his flock, his “workplace” if you will, is a SACRED place and God demands that he treat it as such: That he take off his shoes – a traditional sign (in Eastern culture) of RESPECT and REVERENCE. And, simply, an act of TENDERNESS. I mean, think about when you walk barefoot...
You feel everything, right? You can hurt yourself. You walk GENTLY. And this, I believe, is the second point we’re meant to get here:
In experiencing God powerfully in our lives, to come to see that ALL LIFE – everywhere we are, everything we do, everyone we meet – is HOLY – sacred to God, valuable, beloved - and to TREAT is ACCORDINGLY! To take off our shoes and WALK GENTLY! To see home, and work, and school... everywhere we find ourselves as “holy ground” – a place not just of existence but of ministry, a place where God is present and active and calling us. To see every person we meet: friend, stranger, loved one, enemy - is beloved by God; and, each in their own way, struggling along in this life to God. And to thus live tenderly, respectfully, reverently; quit walking rough shod over life, unthinking, uncaring, crushing everything!
It’s making this shift in perception that changes everything, that opens up amazing things in the Lord. People who experience the holiness of God in everything are, secondly, simply those who live the holiness of God in everything. Do we? Christian author Paul Williams writes:
“The infernal sound woke me at 5:30am. I thought it was a car alarm. When it happened again the next morning, it dawned on me. I had a northern mockingbird outside my window. The volume was incredible, twice as loud as any robin, blue jay, or cardinal I’ve ever heard. I tried earplugs and pulling a pillow over my head, both to no avail. The mockingbird pegged the decibel meter morning after morning.
“I tolerated the bird the first year. The second spring I went to war. I borrowed a BB gun from my secretary. Early one Saturday I tiptoed into the backyard, BB gun in hand, and waited by the patio table. I spotted him at about 6:15am, sitting on the power line that stretched from the pole to the house. But before I could raise the gun he was gone — hiding in the top of a neighbor’s sugar maple. He made a few more runs from the tree to the power line to the roof of the house, but I never had a clear shot. I went inside at about 8:00, equal parts ashamed for wanting to kill the poor bird, and discouraged for being so inept with a BB gun.
“My ambush having proven fruitless, I figured I needed more information. So I googled ‘killing mockingbirds’ but all that got me were references were to Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird – and I knew it wasn’t an instruction manual.
“So I just googled ‘mockingbirds.’ What I found was astounding. A male mockingbird has as many as 200 songs in his repertoire. Males and females build their nest together, and may call on other mockingbirds to protect the nest in the event of attack. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. ‘These are incredibly fascinating birds,’ I told my wife.
“With dripping sarcasm she replied, ‘So, you still need that BB gun?’ No, I didn’t. From that moment on, I took watching the birds instead of trying to kill them. Eventually, I began to try to care for them, to get the best food for them, to watch over them. What began as a tremendous annoyance has become one of the most tremendous blessings in my life. Each spring I now await their arrival, and each fall I mourn their departure.
“It is amazing how much empathy and understanding a little knowledge can bring – what seeing the sacredness of life around you and treating it appropriately can do for you. It works with birds. It works with people. It works with everything.”
Burning Bush Principle #2: GO BAREFOOT. Which leads us into...
(III)
Principle #3: TURN ASIDE.
In the text, one of the little details that caught my attention was this – it says:
Having observed the bush, Moses then makes a conscious decision to “turn aside”: to STOP what HE’S DOING and examine what’s up - and it is only then (that the text says) that God actually spoke to him.
To experience God, Moses had to be willing to “TURN ASIDE” – to stop what he was doing, to put his plans on hold in favor of what God is up to. The third great principle here:
To experience God in our lives we have to be willing to TURN ASIDE – to let go of our objectives, our schedule, our wants and desires; in favor of what God is up to. And let’s face it: this is probably the most difficult principle to fulfill! Simply put: Most often, we’re so hung up on our schedules, our plans, our issues and objectives that we won’t depart from this at all and thus we MISS GOD – we walk right by God!
Simply put: Holy ground is all around. God is calling constantly . People are in need. Will I put myself – my plans, my schedule, my issues – aside and serve, and experience God in an amazing way? Or will I rigidly stick to the course I have set for myself – and miss out on everything – in the name of “accomplishing my goals” and “getting my way”? How often are we missing out on God because we won’t allow our will to be disrupted by God’s will?
What’s the old saying? “I used to be bothered by interruptions in my life until I realized that, as a Christian, interruptions are my life.” For those who truly seek to experience God, “interruptions are (their) life.” It’s the willingness to put ourselves aside for what God wants. Preacher Fred Craddock writes:
"To give my life for Christ appears glorious, to pour myself out for others, to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom – I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory.
“We often think giving our all to the Lord is like that, like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table – ‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’
“But the reality for most of us is that then God sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We then go through life handing out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Sit and talk with your spouse. Help a shaky old man get his groceries into his car at the supermarket. Stop our rushing around for a moment to do something we don’t have time for but that needs to be done.
“Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, putting ourselves aside for God, 25 cents at a time. Forgiving, caring, serving, when we’d rather do otherwise. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul – but that’s where God is best found.”
How is God asking you to “put yourself aside” somehow, today – that He might happen? Burning Bush Principle #3 of experiencing God powerfully in one’s life: TURN ASIDE. And finally...
(IV)
Principle #4: ANSWER THE CALL.
You know, there’s a story that’s told of a church committee that gathered one evening for a very long meeting. At this church, their current pastor was retiring, and so the search committee for a new pastor had gathered to go over resumes in hopes of finding the perfect new minister. Unfortunately, despite hours of reading resumes and discussing and debating, no luck so far. Tired of the whole process, they were about ready to call it a night when they came upon this final letter of introduction from a candidate:
“To the Pulpit Nominating Committee: It is my understanding that you are in the process of searching for a new pastor, and I would like to apply for the position. I wish I could say that I am a terrific preacher, but I can’t - actually, I stutter when I speak. I wish I could say that I have an impressive educational background, but I can’t - no seminary, just the school of ‘Hard Knocks.’ I wish I could say I bring a wealth of experience to the job, but I can’t - I have never been a pastor before (unless you count the flock of sheep I am currently shepherding). I wish I could say I have wonderful pastoral skills, but I can’t - sometimes I lose my temper and have been known to get violent when upset. Once I even killed somebody, but, gracious folks that you are, I am certain you will not hold that against me. I know churches these days want young ministers to attract young members, and I wish I could say that I am young, but I can’t - actually, I am 80 years old.
“With all that - which might go against me, why am I applying for your position? Simple. One afternoon recently, the voice of God spoke to me and said I had been chosen to lead. I admit, I was a bit reluctant at first, but... Here I am. I look forward to hearing from you and to leading you into an exciting new future.”
The Pulpit Committee members looked at one another. The chairperson asked, “Well, what do you think?” The rest of the committee was aghast. A stuttering, uneducated, inexperienced, old, obviously neurotic, ex-murderer as their new pastor? You’ve got to be kidding! The chairperson eyed them all around before she added, “The letter is signed, ‘Yours sincerely, Moses.’”
In the end, of course, this is what the Burning Bush ultimately represents: God CALLING MOSES TO MINISTRY. And needless to say, it’s a very ODD CHOICE: A stuttering, uneducated, inexperienced, old, obviously neurotic, ex-murderer? You’ve got to be kidding!
Well, no one thinks it’s a worse choice than Moses himself! In fact, the entire next chapter and a half consists of Moses coming up with all sorts of reasons, all sorts of excuses, why he cannot and should not do this.
But God refuses to be put off.
God knows that Moses is the right person for this job, God knows that he has tremendous things to offer, God wants to share this work with Moses so that Moses himself can experience this incredible blessing (that’s why God does everything in tandem with us, calls us to participation in with him: Not as a curse but as a gift!) And so, God’s constant reply to Moses is, essentially: “If you will just say yes, simply be obedient, I will be with you always and take care of everything you need.” And it is finally Moses’ acceptance of this call, however reluctantly, that opens his life to a whole new reality. And such it is for each of us...
What this scene (and, indeed, the whole story of Moses) finally seeks to say to all of us is that God longs to do the same with each of us. That we each, likewise, have some key place within the work of God, something great to offer – and we need to offer it if we are ever to truly experience God and life as God intends for us.
In events in our daily lives, in the course of our lives as a whole, God is calling.
Unfortunately, like Moses, most of us spend all our time hiding out, trying to not get involved, working up all sorts of excuses why we need to beg off – thus never experiencing life as wonderful as God intends.
Final point: You may think you have nothing to offer, that you are the worst possible candidate for the job; but God sees otherwise, and God refuses to be put off. If you will just accept the call - in simple daily moments, in grand life choices; instead of continually saying (like Moses eventually says), “Please Lord, send someone else”; - and instead say, “Here I am, Lord.” God will work amazing things in and through and for you! Realize that you have something great to offer to the work of the Lord and to the world, and quit holding it back. Stop making excuses way you can’t and start making excuses why you must! One author writes:
“A pitcher of ice water. Who would imagine it could change the world. But it can.
“I would estimate that Alvin Cavin weighs 140 pounds dripping wet, but 139 of those pounds make up his big heart. ‘He keeps busy by giving to others,’ says Connie Moore, activity director at Cedar Crest Manor nursing home in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.
“Cavin, age 89, is a volunteer with a big heart and a big Stetson hat. Alvin began coming to the nursing facility when his wife, May, an Alzheimer’s patient, was admitted 10 years ago. He rarely missed a meal with May. Though retired from operating a dairy farm, Alvin milked almost a dozen cows before arriving for breakfast with his wife. Between lunch and supper, Alvin came to replenish May’s ice pitcher.
“Before long, he volunteered to fill every other resident’s, too. Even after May went to be with the Lord 5 years ago, Alvin continued to help out at Cedar Crest Manor. At supper, he sets out napkins and coffee cups. If residents needed assistance with their wheelchairs, they get ‘Mr. Cavin’s escort service.’
“Everyone awaits his arrival – most especially those with no outside contacts. Here the effects of his simple ministry have been most profound. Says one resident who is all alone – having no children and his wife having died a few years ago:
“I was at the end of my rope. I had no one. Then one day Alvin came in to my room to fill my ice pitcher. We struck up a conversation. We found we shared a lot in common. We’re now best friends. He comes to visit, we go out to ball games and dinners together. Someone in the world at large knows that I exist, cares what becomes of me. He saved my life!’”
Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes — the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
A life changed by a Burning Bush. Earth crammed with heaven. God longing to break through to our lives and make amazing things happen. Like Moses many years ago, experience God in a profound way:
Be alert. Go barefoot. Turn aside. And answer the call.
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