This story has come up a couple times this year in different ways, which is interesting because I keep thinking about it in reference to the word that God gave me for the year.
Usually it takes me some thought and searching for my "word for the year". For some reason, this time, when it got to the last month of last year, the word FOLLOW kept popping into my mind. I had no idea how much this word would have an impact on me and my journey.
EXODUS 3
Moses and the Burning Bush
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.”The angel gets Moses' attention with something that's normal, but at the same time, unusual. It's normal to see a bush in that area, but it was not normal for it to be on fire for no reason, AND for it to not actually be burning.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.”
Keep in mind the change here. The ANGEL of the LORD is the one who got Moses attention. When GOD SAW that Moses had listened to the ANGELS voice, THEN God stepped in to talk to the man.
Holy crap. Imagine hearing a voice from inside this odd thing saying your name. Like.. what the heck? The bush is speaking and it knows who is standing beside it? 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, 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.
God sees all and decided to do something about the group of people he calls "His people", the chosen ones, to bring them out of their misery (because they've been enslaved for years). He knows they have been crying out for help, and it's time. God's timing is perfect, and who He chooses to do His work is also perfect.
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?”
Um, do you know who you're talking to? Are you sure you're choosing the right person? I am a shepherd (the lowest job), my DAD is the priest, and you want ME to go to the King and demand he lets his slaves free, in the name of a God he doesn't believe in? AND you want me to be their leader?
Hey Moses, you realize you're talking to God, right?
Um.. astonished, bewildered, uncertain, pinching himself to make sure this is real. 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 will worship God on this mountain.”
So God is actually going to take Moses into Egypt as a shepherd, and then bring Him right back to the starting line as a leader, before the journey to the promised land.
13Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”14God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Wow. This is really happening. The God.. THE God.. is telling me I can use His name as my backup. This is big.
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I have a feeling God is calling me to FOLLOW Him into a place that I'm uncomfortable with, not knowing what I'm supposed to say, just doing what He asks me to do when He asks me to do it.
Hosting a ministry online.. Saying things about my faith boldly on Facebook and Instagram, and doing videos (which I'm glad nobody is filming me and I'm not on a stage with people staring at me).. is intimidating. But I've also noticed during this adventure into my discomfort that there have been people touched with words I generally don't speak (I'm an introvert/ambivert).
But the gifts that God has given me with my hands, letting words flow through my fingers into the keyboard and out to cyberspace.. has been encouraging and is also helping me grow in confidence.
He is leading me and I don't know where this is going, but that's okay. One small thing at a time.. God is doing things, and I don't know what they are, but I'm glad to be chosen as a vessel, even though it's (not scary) but intimidating. It's becoming something I look forward to, and I try my best to speak the truths that I know, and the things that I learn, and answers to questions I have.
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