Exodus 3

Exodus 3 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson

The beginning of this great chapter is the slavery the Israelites endured in Egypt.  If you were there, you would conclude that God has left you.  This was cruel servitude and there seemed no way out.  This slavery went on for years.  Years of cruelty, grueling work, desert heat, and as much hope as freedom.  If you were a slave, you could have not known the truth of Ex 2:23-25, “23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.   24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.   25 God saw the people of Israel– and God knew.”

So we quickly switch scenes to the wilderness of Midian in chapter 3 to see a murderer who is tending the flocks of his father-in-law.  Moses seems like an unlikely hero as we view him silent and alone.  It gets worse when he begins to speak in chapter 4.

A bush that is continually on fire but never burned up catches his eye.  He gets closer to this burning bush that never seems to burn up and . . . it talks to him!

This is really an angel of the LORD v. 2 or the incarnate Christ calling Moses to this great work.

Moses, the well-educated, well-bred sky-is-the-limit leader is tending sheep in the desert.   All by himself in the desert watching sheep graze.  These sheep are his father-in-law’s.  Forty years in Egypt, forty years in the deserts herding sheep, 40 years in the desert herding a different kind of sheep; a different life God led Moses to as one of the most important people for Jews and Christians.

God appears to him and directs Moses to treat the area as holy since God is holy.  Show humility (remove sandals) and keep your distance.  In this call, God tells Moses that he knows very well what the Hebrews have been enduring.    God is calling Moses to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let all this free labor go.  Then Moses is called to do something almost impossible in his own strength.

Moses is reluctant as we find many of God’s servants initially.  Maybe that is why Moses is associated with God’s glory.  We need to see God’s glory when the task is too large for us.  Moses questions his own ability v. 11 and God graciously responds.

Moses asks who am I in v. 11 and then Moses asks God, “Who are you?” v. 13.  God’s answers are profound.  In 3:14 we hear God’s self-identify moniker.  This thrilling name reminds us that God has always and will always exist.

God does more than reveal His name as if that was a small thing.  God tells Moses everything that will happen.  And as we read the rest of the Pentateuch, we see all that God says comes true.

When your task is too hard, go back to where you see God’s glory.  For us, we do not return to a burning bush, we return to the cross.  To obey God and fulfill His calling is beyond our ability.  But God equips us.