Introduction
A “Holy Moment” is when God meets with you or me, and that particular moment He has gotten my full attention, the whole world is tuned out and it is just God and me in a conversation.
We first saw that with Jonah on a ship heading to Tarshish. Although there was a ship full of sailors, Jonah knew that he and God were having a one-on-one discussion about the angry sea.
And last week, we saw that God had a “Holy Moment” with Cornelius, a Roman soldier who was at a God-fearer. And the Apostle Peter had a “Holy Moment” with God the next day. And God uses these two “Holy Moments” combined them together in an unlikely scenario and the result was that the church exploded in growth because the Gentiles were now welcomed in.
Today, we want to look at one of the more famous “Holy Moments” in the Bible. Everyone should know the story of Moses and how he fled Egypt after he discovered that some of his Jewish brethren saw him kill an Egyptian. Moses knew if these Jewish men knew, Pharaoh would eventually find out so, Moses fled. He ended up in the land of Midian, in the desert, married to one of Jethro’s daughters, and tending to the flock of Jethro as his occupation for the next forty (40) years.
We are not told in the Scripture of any communication between God and Moses for those forty years. It might have been more than a dry place physically for Moses, it might also have been a dry place spiritually for Moses. That is until that “Holy Moment” at the burning bush.
So, let us see what we can learn when God meets Moses at the burning bush. Please turn in your Bible to Exodus 3:1-6.
Scripture
Exodus 3:1–6 NKJV
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So, he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Point #1
God used a Holy Moment even though possibly forty years too late by Moses’ thinking but right on time by God’s thinking to reveal to Moses that God was planning to do something big in his life.
Ordinary life for Moses now was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in law in the desert. His ordinary life forty years earlier was living in Pharaoh's palace and eating the Pharaoh's food. It was there in that palace he saw the plight of the Jews and got the idea God may use him to free the Israelites from slavery. But God was not ready just yet, but Moses ran ahead of God. Have you ever run ahead of God and failed miserably? Moses did, he killed an Egyptian, and some of his Jewish brethren saw it, and so Moses knew he had to flee Egypt before Pharaoh discovered that news and sought to kill Moses.
So, now, for the next forty years, ordinary life for Moses was tending a flock in the desert. Day in and day out, it was Moses and his flock out in that hot desert sun. No real contact with a lot of people. Probably just very little information got to Midian about the struggles of the Jews in Egypt. Any thoughts of Moses doing something great for the Jews was long gone from his head.
And God was waiting for Moses to become ready. You see if God would have taken these Jews out of Egypt while Moses was still in Pharaoh’s home, Moses would tried to have done it in his own strength. And isn’t that exactly what he tried to do? Isn’t that what we try to do a lot of time-something in our own strength and fail miserably?
And so now forty years have passed, Moses’ pride and self-reliance has been long gone by the waste side. Sometimes God has to get the pride out of you and me and the self-reliance out of you and me before He can use us.
And now in Exodus 3:10 God tells Moses in this “Holy Moment,” “Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring My people out of Egypt.’’
And God knew it was the perfect time when Moses replied in verse 11, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh...” Moses was no longer going to be able to rely on his own strength.
And that is where God wants you and me-relying on His strength to do what we need to do.
Point #2
Moses’ Holy Moments reminds me as I walk through life, I need to carefully examine everything because the next thing I see may be God at work in my life.
Exodus 3:2–3 (NKJV)
2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So, he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
In the desert region of Midian, which would be present day northwest Saudi Arabia, where Moses had been tending his sheep there are several types of bushes and trees that could possibly ignite in the heat and dry conditions. One particular plant is called the gas plant. It emits an oil that can ignite, and the result is the bush burns up. So, Moses in his forty years of tending to Jethro’s flock in the desert, he probably saw many a bush on fire, due to limited water available and heat of the desert sun.
And in verse 2 and 3, we are told that Moses was not surprised by a burning bush in the desert. He tells us it was not the great sight that a bush was burning in the desert that caught his attention. The great sight was the bush was on fire and it was not being consumed. It caught Moses’ attention not because it was on fire; it caught his attention because the bush was not being burned up as the fire roared.
What was happening, God chose to visit Moses in an ordinary everyday scene Moses would come across in the desert. If he just nonchalantly looked and saw out of the corner of his eye the burning bush, he could have said to himself “that is just another bush burning in this hot place.”
But it says that he looked and beheld. That term “looked and beheld” is not a glance. It is “to look at something in order to consider something.” In other words, Moses realized there was something different today about this bush. He recognized it immediately. This is not something ordinary. This bush was not burning up. Instead of being afraid of it, it says that he turned toward it to see it even better.
Listen to me, if there is something different about what is ordinary to you, God might be trying to get your attention in that difference. Bro Greg did not know but he gave me an example to share in this past Wednesday sermon. His sister, Barbara Gale, has been receiving radiation treatment for cancer in her brain for about six days. Each day she was in bad shape going to the treatment and bad shape coming home from the treatment. But Bro Greg said on Wednesday night that after the treatment that she had a good day. The question is: did Bro Greg and Gale see God in that different result, or did they just credited it to the treatment might be working a little? I would choose to see God in Wednesday’s treatment and take that opportunity to have a conversation with God.
Be aware God will bring a “Holy Moment” in an ordinary situation. Your job is to see something different about that situation, and not turn away but to turn to that situation and start a conversation with God about it if He first do not start one with you.
Point #3
Moses’ “Holy Moment” should remind us about the Holiness of God, and I need to recognize that the Holy Ground is closer to us than it was to Moses.
Was there something special about that little plot of sand than all the other sand of the Arabian Desert? No, this was not some kind of sand brought down from heaven when the Lord chose to occupy that burning bush. It was sand like all the other sand of the desert. What made it special was God’s presence was on that ground and God is Holy.
In Moses’ day that the closest you could get to Holy Ground to be in the presence of God. In our day, Christians today, do you not realize that our bodies are Holy Ground if we have given our heart and souls to the Lord Jesus Christ because God comes to live within us.
The difference between the ground and Christians is that the ground where Jesus stands and walks is Holy Ground. It had no choice. The Christian can choose to use his or her body in a holy way or an unholy way. The ground had no choice but to be holy; we have the choice to let our body be holy to God to unholy to God.
1 Peter 1:
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.
Whereas the ground has no choice to be Holy where the presence of God is; the Christian has a free will and can use his or her body in a sinful way.
And listen to what God says about that:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV84)
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.
Did you wake up this morning saying to yourself, I got to take care of this body I have today because it is Holy Ground? Your body is indeed Holy Ground because the Holy Spirit lives inside every believer.
Moses’ encounter with that burning bush should remind us just how close we are to Holy Ground.
Conclusion
How ought you to live your life?
1. Waiting on the timing of God
2. Looking for God to reveal Himself in the day-to-day things of life.
3. Remembering each day, I am that Holy Ground because God lives within me.
