Full of Glory

“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”  Exodus 3:5

 

For four decades, life for Moses seemed much the same—sheep, sheep, and more sheep, but then one day he went to the far side and found the Lord.  “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”(Ex 3:1). Moses wasn’t looking for the divine, but when the sight of a burning bush caught his eye, God caught his ear.  “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”(Ex 3:5).

“I’m right here,” Moses replied, but God didn’t need to know where Moses was—He wanted Moses to know who He was and what He was about to do.  “I am the God of your fathers.  I have seen the misery of my people. I have heard their cries.  I am concerned, and I have come to down to rescue them”(Ex 3:6-9). 

Those few short statements pretty much sum up the astounding theology and glorious truth of the gospel.  God is “I AM” – the One who WAS, who IS, and who WILL BE everything and anything He desires to be.  Because He is, we are, and because He is faithful, we can have faith. He is the God who made a covenant with Abraham, with Moses, and with us, and He is the God who always keeps His promises. 

This never-failing, all-powerful God also cares.  He sees our misery even though we often try to mask our pain.  He hears our cries even when others never notice our tears.  And He is concerned—not just with a fleeting feeling of compassion but with the compelling commitment of incarnation. The infant’s cry from Bethlehem’s stable announced His arrival in our midst to make us His own, for “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”(Col 1:13). 

We’ve all been to the far side of the wilderness, but we’ve never been out of reach of the God who comes to our rescue.

Never hesitate to look closer at a burning bush.

You might just find it’s full of glory.

Down or Up

“Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.”  Exodus 2:17

 

Moses may have been sitting down, but injustice made him stand back up.  

Tired from his trip, he was resting by a well in Midian when seven sisters showed up to water their sheep.  About the time they arrived, some bullies “came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock”(Ex 2:17).

Their early return home prompted questions from dad, who was appalled they had left the hero behind and sent them back with an invite to eat.  The meal turned into a marriage and a means of employment.  “Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage”(Ex 2:22).   

What gifts of grace!  Moses was on the run because of his wrong, but God was right there with him—protecting, providing, and preparing.  Moses made it safely to Midian, a land out east of Egypt, and though we don’t know how many mean men harassed the seven sisters at the well, we do know that Moses was only one but he won!  He needed supper, a spouse, and a job, and because of that single encounter, God gave him all three.  He now had something to do and someone to love.  

And God was getting Moses ready for the future.  Though he knew and embraced his Jewish heritage, Moses had lived a silver-spooned Egyptian life and needed to feel the angst and ache of hardship and heartache.  Since he would be leading a million people through the desert for decades, he needed time to learn the workings of the wilderness and the ways of the Lord.

But before any of that, Moses faced a choice as he rested by the well—he could sit and sulk or he could stand and save.  And as Moses found his feet in faith, God poured out His favor.  

When you feel like staying down, stand up.

God often takes care of us as we take care of others.

This Way and That

“Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”  Exodus 2:12

 

When weaned by his mother, Moses was taken to the palace where he grew up a privileged prince. “He was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action”(Acts 7:22).  But his heart was not at home among royalty, and when Moses was forty years old, “he decided to visit his fellow Israelites”(Acts 7:23).  Their hard labor and harsh mistreatment made him mad, and when he saw one of his own being beaten up, he couldn’t calm down.

“Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian”(Ex 2:12). Being bold enough to stand up for the underdog was nice, but murdering the bully and burying him in the sand was not, and even Moses’ own kin didn’t appreciate his efforts.  When he tried to break up a fight among two Jews the next day, one threw his good intentions back in his face. “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”(Ex. 2:14). When Pharaoh found out, he was furious, and Moses fled to Midian to be out of reach of his wrath.  

Moses knew God had put him in a special place at the palace for a specific purpose, and he “thought his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them”(Acts 7:25), but murder wasn’t right.  Pharaoh knew it.  The Israelites knew it.   And Moses knew it.  That’s why he looked around before he did wrong.   “Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand”(Ex 2:12).   

 

Had someone been watching, Moses wouldn’t have taken a life.  Had he known others would find out, there wouldn’t have been a funeral.  Moses’ motive was right, but his method was wrong, and he wanted to make sure no one would see his sin.  

If you have to look both ways before you start, stop.

You don’t need to glance around when you’re doing good.