1/5/16 Moses starts to Listen

1Now 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.2There 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. 3So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4When 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.”

5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^a 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.

7The 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. 8So 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. 9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12And 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^b will worship God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3)

Thoughts: God began to get Moses' attention.  At first he used a burning bush that would not burn up, but talked up.  The Bush was saying his name.  God was speaking through the bush telling him to go and set the people free. Before Moses could "go down" and tell Pharaoh to set his people free, he had to listen.  He was in the wilderness 40 years preparing for this listening moment.
     God wants us too to listen.  Hopefully it will not take a burning bush or forty years of wilderness.  God does want us to listen to His voice and His call upon our lives.  God wants everyone, without exception, to listen to Him.   

Prayer: Help me to listen to you, O Lord, and give myself to you.  Open my ears and my heart.