What Moses Heard (Exodus 3:5-10)

3/6/2008 7:44 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time              Focus:  What Moses heard

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 3:5-10

Message of the verses:  “5  Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."  6  He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 ¶  The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.  8  "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.  9  "Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.  10  "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’”

This must have been one of those moments of wonder for Moses and this would not be the last moments of wonder for him either.  God speaks to Moses out of a burning bush that would not be consumed by the fire so God certainly had the attention of Moses at this time.

God identifies Himself as the God of Moses’ fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of whom Moses would have been familiar with.

The Lord now tells Moses that He has seen the affiliations that are going on with the children of Israel and he has head their cry and remembers the promises that He had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning bringing them out of Egypt and into the land where they all had sojourned, the land of Canaan.  Next God tells Moses that He has chosen Moses to be used of Him to deliver Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land.  I would imagine that Moses was wondering why God would want to chose him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt for he probably looked upon himself as a failure because he had tried to help them before, but this was in his own strength, and he naturally had failed. 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This story is all too familiar to me and I have to put off all that I have known about this story so that God can use it to teach me whatever it is that He want to teach me from it.  No because I know what is going to happen I may have the tendency to not think about each part of this wonderful story and wait for the ending.  Moses was standing on a mountain talking to a burning bush, or at least at this point listening to a burning bush speak to him.  God is incapable of making any mistakes and so He has His reasons for identifying Himself in this way for He could have identified Himself in human form like when He spoke to Abraham right before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.  I see in this section that God is compassionate and that He has heard the cries of the children of Israel and remembers His promises to them and in the same way He has compassion on me and sees all the things that I’m going through and remembers all the promises He has for me too. 

I want to say something about how wondrous it must have been for Moses to see this sight and actually be listening to God speak to him, and I know that there are far too many times when I miss the wonder of all that God has done and for this I am saddened.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to know God better than I know Him now.  I want to make this time together with God each day a time when I get to know Him better and better and not just have it a time of learning facts as I have been doing.

Memory verses for the week:                    2Cor. 12:9-10

9.   And this He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10.                        Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Review of other memory verses:                Philippians 1:9-11

9.   And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10.                        so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11.  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.