March 14, 2004

How to Burn without Burning Out

Exodus 3:1-15

The story of Moses and the burning bush is one of the most compelling narratives in Scripture. The desert setting is dramatic. The spectacle of a royal fugitive is dramatic. The bush that burns unendingly is dramatic with the drama of the presence of God. Exodus 3:1-15 is the beginning of a much larger section which extends to chapter 4:1-17. The whole section has been aptly characterized as a ‘dialogue of negotiation’ in which Moses spells out the long list of his inadequacies to lead the people of God. He is inferior (3:11); he is ignorant of what to say(3:13); he lacks credibility (4:1); he is a poor public speaker (4:10). Our focus is on the early part of the narrative in which God discloses to Moses the secrets of staying power in divine service.

Moses is given first a revelation of the inexhaustible resources of God. “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing yet it was not consumed”(2). Moses’ self-confidence was already in ruins. He had had his chance to lead Israel out of Egypt and had bungled it (Exodus 2:11-15). Now he is in full retreat: a prince of the Egyptian royal court now herding animals in the desert. He was suffering from spiritual burn-out. Now God comes to him in the form of a bush that burns but does not burn out. God’s passion to set his people free, unlike that of Moses, has not been extinguished (7-9), and he has come to set Moses alight with that same passion. (10). How to burn without burning out is a divine thing: not just a gift from God but a gift of God. Its roots lie in the perception of God as the infinite, inexhaustible source of supply for all our needs: healing our diseases, rescuing us from destruction, renewing our strength (Psalms 103:3-5).

With the revelation of the inexhaustible resources of God there comes to Moses also an awareness of the overwhelming holiness of God. God calls to Moses from out of the bush, then says to him: “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (5). “And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (6b). This is the first use of the word ‘holy’ in the Bible. Remarkably, it stands in the record of a call – or rather a recall – to God’s service. It would be the same again with Isaiah(Isaiah 6:1-8). Continuance in God’s service is grounded in the awareness of the greatness, specifically the holy greatness of God. We speak much of divine grace, but the grace of God can be seen for the unbelievable wonder it is only when it is seen against the background of God’s holy greatness. Grace becomes a cheap and tawdry thing when it means no more than turning a blind eye to sin, or pretending that sin does not really matter. But when sin is seen for what it is: that which defies the will of God by the brash assertion of our own; that which despises the word of God by the rejection of the divine pattern for living; that which defiles the whole world of God trampling on creatures and creation for our own profit; then the fact that God, without in measure or degree condoning our sin, still devises ways to be gracious to us causes the magnitude of his mercy to be seen more clearly.

This very truth is revealed later where Moses’ vision of God’s glory (Exodus 33:18) is rooted in God’s ‘otherness’ (Exodus 33:20-23). We need desperately to recover it, and we can find it anywhere so long as we have our eyes open to see it. In Browning’s words:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.”

One last thing granted to Moses was an assurance of the affirmative presence of God. “Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain” (11-12). Moses needed that. His nerve was already shattered (11). In reply, God gives him two things.

First, God gives him a promise: “I will be with you” (11). This God who promises to be with him is no remote abstraction, dwelling in lofty isolation from what happens on the earth. On the contrary, he is the God who acts on the stage of history, intervening in human affairs to carry out his purposes. He is “the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (15).

Second, God gives Moses a sign: “This shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain” (12). The sign of the truth of the promise will be its fulfillment. The confirmation will come only after Moses has obeyed God’s directive.

Once more we are on pilgrimage through the season of Lent. Once more with Moses and Jesus we are in the wilderness. In the wilderness we shall find desolation, loneliness, and our strength tested to the last degree. But we shall also find other things: water from the rock, manna from heaven, and bushes that burn with the flames of the presence of God. When we meet Him and sense his inexhaustible resources, his overwhelming holiness, his reassuring presence, we know that we have more than enough reserves to sustain us.