Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Are you nearly overwhelmed by the constant flood of ‘bad news’ which pours at us everyday in every part of our world? Perhaps you are among a growing number of people who are significantly limiting the amount of ‘news/information’ they are allowing into their ears each day. Several people I know have decided to LIMIT the endless noise of information, most of it discouraging… simply by turning OFF most social media, much of the mainstream media, and carefully selecting a small amount of news each day. Some friends of mine have committed to balance their intake of ‘media news’ with an equal amount of time taking in God’s Good News… Scripture! What do you think about that? What difference might that make in your life if you tried that balanced approach to information intake?
Today, let’s rejoin Moses on a hillside in the desert as an encounter with Almighty God has turned into an experience with God, which is changing his life. Moses has removed his sandals out of respect for this holy encounter, and God is speaking to Moses from a burning bush which is not being consumed. “The LORD said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Ex. 3:7-8) Have you ever had the experience of an encounter with God that overwhelmed you with His love for you and His full awareness of all that is going on in your life? That is what Moses is experiencing here. And so much more…let’s look closely at what is happening to and within Moses.
We know Moses grew up and was educated in Egyptian royalty and that would have included training in Egyptian worship which was idol and creation worship. Golden images in the form of oxen and eagles and other animals were worshiped. The sun, moon and certain stars were worshiped. Sorcery was widely practiced in Egypt in ancient times. But here, on this hillside, Moses is having his first, multi-sensory experience with Almighty God, the Creator of the universe and Creator of every person!
I call it a ‘multi-sensory experience’ because a bush on fire, yet not consumed… that’s a miracle of God! It challenged Moses’ eyes and his mind as he examined that burning bush! A voice coming out of the fire which speaks his language and knows his name… that’s a miracle of God! It challenged his ears and his heart as he pondered it! It’s a voice explaining who God is and that God has full understanding of what’s going on in Egypt and that God is so concerned about the suffering of the Hebrews, who He calls “My people”, that He says He has come down to rescue them! Can you imagine what this experience is doing to Moses’ Egyptian worship experiences and his Egyptian understanding of ‘god’?
Please notice God told Moses His concern for the suffering of His people has moved God to develop a strategic plan of rescue. It is both a plan of rescue FROM slavery & misery, but also a plan of rescue TO a new land ‘flowing with milk and honey’. This is very, very significant friends. God’s plans are always complete plans. When we think of rescue of those in bondage…any kind of bondage, freedom is enough isn’t it? But not with God… God wants to accomplish both freedom FROM the bondage and freedom TO a new and wonderful life! The words ‘flowing with milk and honey’ which God used to describe the land He wanted to lead His rescued people to are important words which speak of health and growth… that’s what ‘milk‘ describes; but also sweetness, enjoyment, contentment, fulfillment… that’s what ‘honey‘ represents.
God wanted Moses to understand the horrible slavery existence the Hebrews had been living in for generations was NOT His plan for them when He initiated His Covenant with Abraham. Remember that back in Genesis 17? We’ve already looked closely at the fact that this Egyptian slavery resulted from their own complacency, apathy and refusal to relocate back to the Covenant land God had given Abraham and his descendants generations before. Moses was learning about God’s great love for people and His compassion that even when we end up in terrible dungeons of despair caused by our own actions or even inaction when we should have taken steps to stop our downward spiral into enslavement… God’s love for humanity is unconditional and He is always seeking ways to draw us up out of our self-made mess and back to Himself. That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 is all about friends. Listen: “Therefore anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. All this is from God who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ…” Do you hear deliverance, rescue here my friends. Deliverance from bondage and reconciliation to God! That is what Jesus made possible for any person when He died on the cross and rose from the grave alive and ready to save completely anyone who trusts fully in Him. (Heb. 7:25)
There’s one last thing I’d like us to consider today in what Moses was hearing from God at the burning bush that morning. As God describes the land to which He wants to lead the Hebrew slaves after He rescues them, God not only said it was a ‘land flowing with milk and honey’, God also said: “…the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (Ex. 3:8) Oh my… that is frightening! Do you see why? When Abraham first arrived in that land called Canaan about 500 years before this burning bush experience, as described in Genesis 12, the whole region was sparsely populated. And when Jacob led his family from that land and moved to Egypt to escape the famine, about 100 years later, it was still not widely populated. But now, more than 350 years later, this land was populated with several different people groups, who had reputations of violence and immorality.
The land was still God’s Covenant land for His people, but they had walked away from it nearly 400 years ago, and in those 4 centuries many people had moved in, made it home and had lots of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren to the point that now thousands of people lived there who knew nothing about those Hebrews who had abandoned the land centuries before! Going back would be a fight… a prolonged and difficult fight to regain the land their ancestors had abandoned. Do you see the lesson in this my friends? Our descendants live with the results of our life choices, just as you and I are living in the shadow of choices made by our ancestors, years ago!!
Moses had a lot to think about, and so do we…so let’s pause here and ponder, just as Moses was doing. Do you know Almighty, Holy God as Moses was getting to know God that day? Do you know how much God loves you and cares about you and your family? Do you understand God looks at you from the perspective of history going all the way back to Adam, as well as your present generation, as well as the future going all the way forward in time till Jesus returns? Do you understand God’s desire that you and I would live in a wonderful, authentic, multi-sensory, interactive relationship with Him in which we get to know Him more and more everyday? So I urge you to take some time right now and re-read Exodus 3:1-8 and let those truths about God soak into your heart and mind, and talk with God about YOUR life journey. What does God’s love and power rescue look like in your life my friends? Here’s a song to help you ponder that. . .
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 3:7, 8.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Email
WhatsApp