Exodus 3
A little girl was visiting her grandparents one day when she asked, “Papa, do you know how you and God are alike?” As he mentally polished off his halo, he inquired, “No, how are we alike?” She replied, “You're both old.” That was not exactly the response he expected, but it was nonetheless quite true. Maybe I am just looking to the soon-to-come day my new little granddaughter, Lilia, can say the same, but, in the meantime, let it be an illustration of what might have been going in the mind of Moses as he received his awesome vision.
You see, Moses had had quite a journey up to this point. Having been rescued by Pharaoh's daughter from the Nile River as a baby, he was raised in the palace as a prince. When he was forty, he found himself in Midian, herding sheep for his father-in-law. After 40 years of that, God revealed Himself and His plan to Moses. At this point, he was already 80 years old, and I wouldn't think that he really expected to have yet another purpose besides taking a few sheep to pasture. One day, while he was on Mt. Horeb, “...the angel of the Lord appeared unto Him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” (vss. 2,3) Moses stopped what he was doing and came closer. It turned out it was not just an ordinary brush fire—it was God! The Lord had heard the cries of His people in bondage in Egypt, and was now commissioning Moses to be the one to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Being frightened and feeling ill-equipped for the task, Moses started to think up some excuses—he didn't know God's name; he didn't think he could speak well enough; and so on. I noticed that Moses never brought up the age issue—perhaps he knew that the God who was calling him was even older, and could obviously handle all the details. But then came the kicker—when you are trying to get somebody to do something for you, you don't usually try to make it sound impossible—but God did. The Lord told him, “...I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.” (vss. 19-20) You see, the vision of God will always be impossible in our own strength, but not in God's!
Yes, the vision was given. The coming days would be filled with plagues for a purpose—to get Pharaoh to let the people go. And isn't that the vision for all of life—to let the people of God live in freedom and victory? In this Christmas Season, will you turn aside from your busyness to see the great burning vision that God has for you and your life—salvation at the hands of the One who came to be born to die on the Cross, and to be sanctified—baptized in Holy Ghost and fire? “Let my people go,” will always be the wondrous vision of God, and everything He uses to get us there will be wondrous, too!
~ Rev. Roy D. Warren, Jr.
