Jesus, Authority and The Burning Bush….

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

Where does authority come from?

Authority comes from God.

But authority from God comes with specific purpose and function within the plan of redemption for the world.  God gives purpose.  God gives tasks.  Tasks have been appointed for us that we would be predestined to walk in them.  God creates each of us and He creates for each of us a race to run.  There are myriad blessings involved for whatever our races are, but Moses had a particularly unique race to run.

Today we start to take a look at Moses’ first interaction with God.  We could say we’re taking a look at when God calls.

Exodus 3: 1-4

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.  And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.  So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.  Then Moses said, ‘I will now run aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’  So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’  And he said, ‘Here I am.”

It was an everyday.  Moses was doing the regular things that he was to do with his day.  Tending the sheep of his father in law.  It was his job to be a shepherd which is of interest.  The LORD had blessed Moses with a safe house through a priest and a daughter of the priest for a wife and was then put to work herding sheep when not too much later on he would be given the task for herding Israel.  He was bringing this flock of sheep through the desert when something unusual happened.

I think it’s worth mentioning that there was no special entreaty, there were no prayers, there was no invocation, Moses was not seeking for God, as best I can tell from the text, but God appeared to him anyway.  For it is God who appoints and it is God who chooses.  His decisions are First and His decisions are final.  When the time comes for the LORD to call us, the time has come and He will appear as He sees fit, for He is Lord of all.

The LORD appeared as a burning bush.  A bush, on fire, that was not being consumed.  Certainly an unusual happening.

How many unusual happenings in our days do we let go by without inspection and prayer?

We may not have a burning bush appear to us, but I think there’s something about God we can learn from these passages.  God can use unusual happenings in our days, regular days that we are just doing what we do, perhaps days when we are not even seeking God, He can take an unusual happening and speak to us through it.  It might be possible for us to say that God will use unusual happenings to get our attention so it might be wise for us to look for such things.

How many times has God entreated us and we have not paid attention to the sign?  Only God knows.  We can learn from Moses.  His reaction was to turn aside to investigate this strange sign, to see what it was about.  When he turned aside to investigate the miracle, the sign of the burning bush, God then spoke to him.  It seems that after Moses had approached God’s Wonder in curiosity is then when God responded and called.

This is only the beginning of the conversation between God and Moses, but at this point in our text, Moses has the correct response to God when he calls his name.  He responds ‘Here I am.’

Hosea 4: 1-6

“Hear the Word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.  Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with he beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.  Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Would the LORD have a controversy with us?

It is a truth that God speaks.

It is a truth that we are given a race to run.

It is a truth that we are predestined to walk in our works.

It is a truth that a wicked generation seeks to test God with a sign, but when God gives us a sign, do we know what we are looking at?

Jesus teaches:

Matthew 16: 24-28

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.  Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.”

Is not part of our cross to understand the Savior of our souls and to listen to His requests?

I think that’s a good start for the day.

Happy waiting!

:)