Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
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 up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation. (New International Version)
The burning bush is one of those iconic objects and familiar stories in Holy Scripture. The experience of Moses changed both his life and the lives of all the Israelites then and now.
Having spent the first forty years of his life as a darling in the Egyptian court, then the next forty years far from that life on the backside of the desert with a bunch of sheep, it is an understatement to say Moses did not expect or ever envisioned encountering God in a burning bush. The impossible has no possibility…. Or, does it?
That incredible encounter engaged the senses of Moses:
- the paradoxical sight of seeing fire in a bush that isn’t burning up
- the smells of sheep, the outdoors, and perhaps, even of fire
- hearing the call of God from within the bush
- spiritually and emotionally tasting the attentive justice of God
- removing the sandals to touch and feel the grounding of sacred space
The story comments on the senses of God, as well. Even though God is Spirit and is worshiped as such, God is alive with his own sensations:
- seeing the approach of Moses, and the misery of the Israelites
- the smell of injustice wafting into God’s nostrils with a stench that brought a strong divine reaction
- hearing the cries of suffering
- anticipating the savory taste of showing mercy and justice together
- touching Moses in such a profound way that he and the Israelites would never be the same
Through it all, the close identification between God and God’s people is expressed. The Lord feels the humiliation and pain of the Israelites and vows to uproot them from the Egyptian factory farm of slavery and plant them firmly into rich Promised Land soil. And what God promises to do, God has the authority and power to make good on.
An impossible situation, Moses thinks. How can hundreds of years of backbreaking bondage to a national force so mighty that nothing can be done about it, be broken? Who am I, Moses, to face such odds?
Ah, but God specializes in systems of oppression and miserable people. It is the Lord’s abilities which conquer the mightiest of foes and can extend mercy to the lowest and the least powerful. The entire situation is ripe for divine intervention and supernatural wonders to occur.
God will make a way where there seems to be no way. God works in ways which transcend our senses.
- Where we are blind, God gives sight
- Where we are deaf, God opens our ears with the sound of justice
- When our taste buds are shot with the gruel of poverty, God causes our tongues to dance with the zest of mercy
- When our nerve endings are raw from cruel bondage, God touches us with freedom
- Where our nostrils have become accustomed to the smell of death, God’s aroma of life awakens us to new hope
My friends, I believe with all my heart that you already intuitively know deep in your spirit that the impossible is possible with God. It is never a question of God’s ability, but of God’s timing. God is able – and the Lord works the impossible in its proper time so that justice and mercy will have their full effect.
God of the impossible: I believe. Help me in my unbelief.
God of mercy: I receive. Help me in my denial.
God of justice: I accept. Help me in my rejection.
God of all time: I endure. Help me in my impatience.
God of All: I submit. Help me in my rebellion.
God of power and of might: I trust. Help me in my distrust.
God of our Lord Jesus Christ: I follow. Help me in my wandering.
God of the nations: Yes, you know that I love you. Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Lord, you know all things, and you know that I love you. So, yes, I will answer your call to go. Help me in my sending. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 