Mount Isa Baptist Church

Holy ground

Exodus 3:1–7

Moses had been in the royal court of Egypt but was now a shepherd, working for his father-in-law. This was a lowly occupation which Egyptians despised (Genesis 46:34). He was leading his flock at Mount Horeb when the Angel of the LORD appeared to him. ‘The Angel of the LORD’ is God! He is identified with God in today’s reading (2,4). Many Bible commentators believe that ‘the Angel of the LORD’ describes the Lord Jesus when he appeared to men before he came to earth at Bethlehem. Moses was attracted by the strange phenomenon of a burning bush which was not consumed by the fire. The Bible describes God as a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Fire is a symbol of his blazing purity and of his glorious holiness. God told Moses that he was standing on holy ground. In such a place he was overwhelmed with awe and fear. A sense of the majesty and awesomeness of God is often missing from our worship. A. W. Tozer describes worship as ‘a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love’. What do you know about true worship? When someone has a true experience of God, they are never the same again. Samson’s parents were awestruck in the presence of God (Judges 13:20–21); Isaiah was woebegone as he felt his own wretchedness and sin (Isaiah 6:5); the apostle John fell at his feet as dead (Revelation 1:17). Let us always worship God with joyful reverence and godly fear.

The second thought for us this week: Remember that usefulness in great things normally follows faithfulness in small things as you grow in your knowledge and experience of God. The cause will be served, but not by someone who is on his own mission, but by someone on God's mission. That's where we should be, not on our missions but on God's mission. God doesn't join us; we join Him. Moses now becomes the servant of God under the direction of God, in the strength of God. This God that he's coming to know more fully, and he's going to learn even more. God has revealed Himself over and over again in the Bible. Is it about God, or is it about me and me being on my mission? The encouraging part is when God consumes your mind, and God captures your heart; then you will more likely be on God's mission, doing what He wants, in the way that He has prescribed. Maybe God’s mission for you is just to be the husband or wife that He wants you to be, or the parents He wants you to be. Maybe God wants you to spread His love with those you encounter or whatever He has planned for you to do.

There is a challenge to all of us: How well do you know and experience God? This will determine how well you really are equipped for God's mission. God helping us as we go forward.