God Is Our I Am

God is our I AM

Exodus 3

May 26, 2024

The story of the exodus is really fascinating and the more I look at it, the more I’m intrigued and am learning.

As we were talking about meeting Moses meeting God at the Burning Bush last week - - - - - it was so cool that so many of you texted and emailed me to tell me where you meet with God. They were all over the place, which is great. Some were as early as 4 AM. Someone simply texted me and wrote FOUND MY SPOT!!

One thing that stood out to me was the intentionality in those meeting times. I had the sense that God was calling you to meet up at a certain place and time. We don’t all experience God the same way. And that’s great! There’s no cookie cutter formula. There’s not a recipe which says add a little of this, a pinch of that, but not too much. AND presto, you’ll meet with God.

It’s often based on our personalities and our callings. As I’ve mentioned before, It was a process for me.

But for some of you, it was radical. It was a moment in time that you will never forget and you hold onto that. And that’s great to have that moment.

It was that way for Moses as well. Moses was out doing his job as a shepherd. He’s minding his own business. He turns his head and there’s this crazy bush which is on fire, but not burning up.

He’s drawn to it . . . and that’s the first call of God to Moses. That was his first meeting with the divine.

Your assignment last week was to determine where you meet God. Where is it that you talk to Him and hear His voice? Where is it that you find peace, comfort, worship and celebration? Where is it you read the Word, which transforms your heart, spirit and mind?

I want to add one more thing about what’s interesting regarding Moses’ encounter with God, and then we’ll move on. It actually occurred to me at 5:40 on Monday night. That’s how vivid this recognition was. And it’s not rocket science, which makes this even more fun. In Exodus 3, we read - - -

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

4 When the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

What’s key in this passage, that hit me on Monday is the fact that God presented Himself to Moses and Moses had to choose the bush or the sheep. It’s pretty simple, but it’s that key word I spoke about last week . . . .

COME! Come to me! Draw Near!

You see, that’s the call of God in our lives. Come to me. Notice that God DID NOT speak until Moses came to Him. Moses needed to take that step towards God, even though he wasn’t sure what he was stepping to.

It doesn’t always work that way. But I would assume most of us are pretty oblivious to God’s voice, especially and because we don’t know God’s voice.

Think about it this way, you start to date someone and you call them on the phone. I’m going back about 35 years ago. If it’s me, I am calling Debbie on a landline. Those things that have cords.

Well, Debbie also had a roommate. I had to quickly learn if it was Debbie or Gloria. I couldn’t hear a voice and say ‘hey babe!’ and have it be Gloria. Not good! Especially because there was no caller ID. So, they didn’t know who was on the other end.

My point is that if we’re not talking to God and listening to God, then when He speaks to us, we very well may miss that call or answer to our prayer!

So Moses had to draw near . . . He had to approach the bush in order to hear God’s voice and begin this relationship with the God of his fathers.

Again, often times God is calling us. He wants us to move into a relationship with Him, or to go deeper, but we have to take that step and draw near to Him.

OK! So, as the story goes, Moses is meeting with God. It’s holy ground, and as the conversation, the calling continues, we see Moses’ insecurities. Really, it’s not surprising. If God’s going to call me, I may not feel quite as adequate, so I might question a bit.