Exodus 3:1-5 God progressively draws near to those who fear Him

Exodus 3:1-5 God progressively draws near to those who fear Him

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Background

This section begins with the detailing of Moses’s remarkable encounter with God; the mixing of the natural elements of human experience with the supernatural. Moses’s mundane existence as a shepherd was suddenly disrupted being thrust back into his calling as deliverer of Israel. The old life of shepherding had ended, and the new life of a national deliverer had begun. God appeared to Moses openly because he fears God and loves Him supremely. Today’s devotion teaches us: God progressively draws near to those who fear Him.

Observation

Moses’s initial encounter with God happened at Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord is not the Lord Himself. Rather, it was an angel by which God projected His presence in a blazing fire from a bush. Just as Moses turned to examine the phenomenon, God called out to Moses from the midst of a bush. God’s first instructions to Moses had set the precedence of the tone and protocol of their relationship and future engagements. Here, God commanded Moses to stop coming towards the burning bush and to remove his sandals. The reason: “the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” The place is holy by virtue of the angelic presence of the holy God and is not to be violated. Indeed, men cannot approach or so much as look at God and live. And because God is holy and loving, He drew near to Moses who fears Him.

Truth

God progressively draws near to those who fear Him.

Why should believers develop a fear of God?

The short answer is: If we do not fear God, God will not reveal Himself to us. And we will not live abundantly to fulfill the purpose and potential that we are created for.

The circumstances surrounding God’s first meeting with Moses shows us that God draws near to those who fear and love Him. God chose Moses and appeared to Him in a tangible and open manner because Moses fears and loves God. Indeed, Moses’s future exploits shows his relentless commitment by stopping at nothing to carry out God’s directives.

When Moses caught sight of the burning bush and came near to examine it, God immediately stopped him: “Do not come near here…” God also commanded him to remove his sandals which were considered common and unworthy to touch the holy ground on which Moses stood. Why did God make such a demand even before He introduced Himself as God of the fathers? This was to elicit from Moses the fear of God to establish the tone of their relationship and protocol for future engagements. To fear God is to love God in absolute reverence, trust and obedience. If Moses did not fear God, God who knows all things would not have appeared to him.

What is the state of the church today?

Many churchgoers supposed by their “passionate” and “extravagant” display of worship at the weekly service will elicit God’s tangible presence. They may experience some kind of emotional euphoria or uncanny “presence” for a moment. But they remain empty and fleshly for the rest of the week. For such seek God for all the wrong reasons: for having their problems solved and desires met. Most are not prepared to sacrifice a significant portion of their resources to help the needy. They are also not interested in what God really said in His word preferring the fabricated precepts of worldly men. Yet there are those who did many things in the name of charity, but their motives and intents remain self-serving. To such, God does not come near, not to mention an open revelation of Himself. Jesus had this to say to such people,

“This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” – Matthew 5:8-9.

The fear of God is the foundation of the believer’s relationship with God. Without the fear of God, God remains aloof and distant. And Christianity is reduced to a doctrine, a means to obligate God to save and fulfil men’s fleshly desires. Therefore, those who desire righteousness and abundant living must develop the virtue of fearing God. The more we fear God, the more He draws us close to Him. And to those who love Him, He endows with divine favour and authority to bless the nations.

Believers must seek God’s tangible presence to truly and progressively understand scripture

If Moses had not encountered God at Horeb, his understanding of scripture would have remained mundane and lifeless. For scripture alone cannot lift Moses towards the divine life and calling God had predestined for him. And the Lord would have remained distant and aloof. Before God appeared to Moses, his faith was rational and conceptual. Now that he saw God, his faith became divine and experiential. For God cared enough to come to him in person and spoke of His concern for the people. From then on, God is no longer aloof but real, accessible and tangible to Moses’s natural senses. And God’s instructions were no longer derivatives of Moses’s own conscience and convictions but direct revelations as he heard God spoke. This divine experience at Horeb gave Moses new life to overcome his fear and insecurities. If God had not revealed Himself to Moses, he would still be a shepherd, and Israel enslaved to Egypt.

Many today read the scriptures and knew the basic tenets of Christianity. But they did not encounter God in a real and personal manner. Thus, the way they relate with God remain conceptual without the experiences of a real relationship. First of all, they cannot feel the presence of God, let alone hold an actual dialogue with Him. Their “conversations” with God are really just internal musings and monologues. Apart for an occasional “spiritual” euphoria, many wonder why God did not appear to them as He did to Moses.

What are the reasons that God seem aloof and distant to many in the church today?

The reasons are:

• The church is hopelessly fixated on knowledge and doctrines as opposed to God Himself.
• There is a general lack of ministers and disciple-makers who are accustomed to conversing with God and His angels on a daily basis.
• The church has bought into teachings that promote blessedness while neglecting Christ-likeness.

The first reason arises partly due to human pride and excessive dependence on rational to decipher scripture. In the same breath, many have no confidence to interpret scriptures by themselves choosing instead to depend on established institutional teachings. Hence, they no longer depend on God’s tangible presence to enlighten them to the scriptures’ divine meaning and revelations, which is a form of unbelief.

The second reason arises partly because those who actually converse with God on a daily basis were not taken seriously by the church at large. And the church has grown to depend on human rational and biblical scholarship more than the progressive revelations of God. This is a grave mistake, as without God’s direct revelation we cannot fully understand the scriptures.

After Jesus rose from death, He appeared to two men en-route to Emaus and said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27). Without Jesus’s intervention, believers cannot understand scripture or progress in divine wisdom. Peter, without the vision of a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, will all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and God commanding him to kill and eat (see Acts 10:11-13), would not have understood God’s salvation plans for the Gentiles.

Lastly, if Moses had not met God at Horeb, he would not have received wisdom to understand God’s plans for Israel and receive power to fulfill it. He would have died a shepherd, and Israel would not be a sovereign nation today.

Application

To fear God is to do the following:

• Make Christ-likeness our daily goal: to be pure, gracious, forgiving, kind, and patient, to be wise under all situations, and to grow in divine authority over the angels.
• To be faithful in fulfilling what God has commissioned us to do.
• To seek God’s perspectives and obey Him in small and big things.
• To keep our hearts free from envy, hatred, the love of money, power, and lust.
• To keep our minds free from worldly teachings, evil thoughts and bad reports concerning others.
• To keep our bodies free from addictions to fleshly pleasures (pornography, nicotine, alcohol etc.), unwholesome companies and expedient distractions from life’s challenges (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube etc.)

Above all, seek God’s tangible presence to understand scripture, to know His thoughts and desires. In so doing, we may be one with Him possessing His wisdom and authority to do His will. Spend as much time dwelling in God’s presence as reading the word. Without the word, there is no basis to make sense of God’s revelations. Without God’s enlightening presence, the word alone cannot lead us towards abundantly living with signs and wonders.

Dear Lord, create in me a heart that loves and fears you. Open my mind, my heart and senses towards your holy presence. Cause me to know wisdom and your plans so that I may be an instrument of your salvation. Sanctify me with your Spirit so that I may grow in your likeness and do your will. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.