Exodus 3:1-12 Notes: Moses at the Burning Bush

Section 5: Moses at the Burning Bush – Exodus 3:1-12    5/5/13

Theme or topic of this section

Fear

The Commission  (Com = “with” – God will be with Moses on his mission)

Assignment

Who, me?!

Doubt

Some interesting points

- it was interesting that Moses took off his sandals in a holy place.

- why did Moses hide his face?  I would have thought he would be excited. … But seeing God was considered to bring death.

- God seems to be repetitious.  (this is helpful if Moses is terrified)

- the verbs:  God has seen….heard….known…. come down.  God is a man of action.

- Why does God repeatedly refer to himself as “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob?”

- What God’s purpose in speaking to Moses in the burning bush? 

            - to let Moses know that God has seen the suffering of the people

            - to commission Moses for the task (which was not to go to the corner store)

            - to introduce Himself to Moses

- Moses’ objection is “Who, me?!” Motivated by fear, reluctance, low self-esteem (his first attempt to help the Israelites failed and ended up in murder and Moses needed to flee the scene).

- God sees more in Moses (maturity) than Moses sees in himself.

- God’s answer to Moses’ objection is “I will be with you.”  (Fast-forward to New Testament where Jesus says “I will always be with you.”)

- The sign

            - I don’t see a sign.  Where is it?

            - The sign is that later on, you’ll see.  It’s a hindsight sign.

- Moses is rightly terrified.

What we learned about the nature of God from this passage

- He doesn’t take no for an answer.

- God has a plan.

- God is a great showman – the burning bush!

- God uses and everyday bush and makes it a spectacular miracle.  This is what God does with each of us ordinary people.

- God asked Moses to redirect his attention.

What we learned about Moses from this passage

- he’s a pretty humble guy at this point

- he’s curious – he did go aside to look at the burning bush

- he’s obedient

- he listens

- he questions God

What we learned from this passage that we can apply to our lives

- Are we allowed to question God?  From this passage it seems that it is okay to do that.

- God answers when you approach God.

- Sometimes God’s answer is just “I will be with you.”

- We are asked to do things we don’t want to do.

- Moses set an example of how to be a faithful servant to God.

- Accept the fact that God has a plan (even if you can’t see the plan) and just go with that.