For approximately 40 years Moses has been a shepherd, tending sheep. He is approximately 80 years old.
By all rights he is in the golden years of his life, The sunset of his life, (It would seem he has missed his destiny).
But one very normal day, doing what he normally did, God interupted his life.
(Are’nt you glad that God interupted your life? I know I am.)
*He led the flock to the backside of the desert, (The backside of anything is usually the worst part, the dirty and neglected, and avoided part)
Example: A bill board (it may have a picture of a beautiful young woman on the front of it, but the back of it is full of cobwebs and spiders, and dust.
*He came to the mountain of God. (Isn’t interesting how God often shows up when and where we least expect him.
*There appeared unto him. ( notice who initiated this meeting) It was God
God was there waiting for him, Moses was running from his past, running from his mistakes (running from his destiny) but he ran into God.
God was waiting for him.
*Notice how God appears to him, ( In a flame of fire ) Fire is attractive, Even natural fire draws people. It’s amazing how many people show up to see a good fire.
*Notice where God appears to Moses. ( out of the midst of a bush )
At this stage in his life Moses wasn’t acting very spiritual, God appears to him in a way that was almost natural, In otherwords, what he saw didn’t scare him.
It was after he got closer that he began to see the supernatural aspect of God in the bush.
BUSH:
from an unused root meaning to prick; a bramble: a bush, a thorny bush
This is one of the greatest revelations in the scripture of how God has chosen the natural, the weak, the foolish, the insignificant things to reveal and manifest himself through.
1 Cor 1:27-29
27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence.
2 Cor 4:7
7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
It is the Treasure, The Holy the almighty, the divine, manifesting himself in the midst of and in spite of the weaknesses and the faults and the thorns of our humanity.
It was a bush on fire that caught Moses attention. (There is a world, that is lost without God and on their way to hell, and they’re enjoying the trip) The only thing that is going to get their attention is for them to see someone who is on fire.
*It’s going to take more than a religion to reach them.( There were many bushes ) But the one that got Moses attention was the one that was on fire.
Finally: The thing that drew Moses, was the fact that this bush was not consumed = burned up (In other words, Many other bushes had burned with fire but it was almost unnoticed because they were consumed so fast.
But this bush continued to burn, it wasn’t like the other bushes, because the fire was from God.
Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
There are so many people who start out good, and talk a good talk, but they run out of gas.
They let the affairs of this life, and the desire for this world, and the appetites of the flesh overwhelm them and all of a sudden they find that the fire has gone out, (the salt has lost it’s savor) and they have lost their impact on a lost world.
When The world sees these spiritual bushes that burn out, they decide that we’re all the same, they judge every Christian by the ones that fizzle out.
When God saw that Moses turned aside to see, then God spoke to him.
God got moses attention through a bush that wasn’t burned up.
In other words, when moses saw this ordinary bush that was on fire just like any other bush, but saw that it didn’t burn it’self out, He knew there was something supernatural taking place, and it drew him out of his everyday routine of life.
If we desire to have an impact on our world, we must have something more than every other bush, We have got to have the supernatural presence and power of God burning in our lives, in such a way that when others are burning out We are still on fire (We have got to show the world a difference).
We have got to show them that we can go through the same things they go through, experience the same difficulties and heart aches that they experience and still be on fire.
This is what will draw them out of their daily self destructive routines of life, and give us an opportunity to share the reality of a living saviour with them.
