Every one of us has a purpose in God’s plan. He has something specific that He wants each of us to do. Our job is simply to be prepared when God calls us to do it.
While I don’t believe that God still speaks to us through a burning bush, the story of Moses provides us a great example of how NOT to react when God calls us for something.
Remember, Moses spent the first 39 years of his life as an
unbeliever, then one year in
We’ll pick up the story where Moses sees the burning bush.
Exodus 3:1-10
1 Now Moses was
pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the
priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west
side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the
2 The angel of the
LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked,
and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
3 So Moses said,
"I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not
burned up."
4 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."
5 Then He said,
"Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place
on which you are standing is holy ground."
6 He said also,
"I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at
God.
7 The LORD said,
"I have surely seen the affliction of My people
who are in
8 "So I have
come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and
honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
9 "Now, behold,
the cry of the sons of
The
10 "Therefore,
come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of
So there is the call of God to Moses. God says, “I am sending YOU.” Of course, before verse 10 when God says He will send Moses, God says in verses 6 to 9 that He Himself will rescue His people from Egypt, but Moses only hears the last part!
Now here comes round one of a five round championship fight. Moses will throw out five objections, and God will answer each one of them. Today we’ll see this first one.
Exodus 3:11-12
11 But
Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that
I should bring the sons of
Moses’ first objection shows that he has illusions about himself. He has the illusion of false humility, and about his own capabilities. Here is the essence of Moses’ problem:
HE THINKS THAT YOU PERFORM GOD’S WILL ON THE BASIS OF YOUR OWN HUMAN ABILITY!
He is also thinking that God has made a mistake! He is questioning the wisdom of God. Moses does not understand at all who and what God is. God is OMNISCENT, which means He has ALL knowledge! Of course God picked the right person!
Instead of thinking about the character of God, Moses is concentrating on the character of Moses. So God simply reminds Moses that He is God, and that He will be there to accomplish His purpose.
12 And He said,
"Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out
of
When God leads you to do something, don’t worry about your shortcomings or lack of ability. If it is God’s will for you to accomplish it, you will accomplish it with His power! Instead of focusing on our own ability (or lack thereof!) we should focus on the ability and power of God.