I’m just back from a speaking engagement in Corydon, Indiana. First of all, boy is that a long honkin’ way! Mile after mile of Indiana Interstate. Whew. I went down last night otherwise I would have had to get up and leave in the wee hours. And in case you don’t know what the wee hours are, they are the hours you ought to be sleeping, not driving.
But secondly, wow. What a beautiful day. Last night I got to see one of those spectacular sunsets, where it looks as though God dipped a brush in the orangey-red colors of the divine palette and flung streaks of that bright color across the blue canvas of the sky. This afternoon as I headed back, it was bright and clear, an invitation to look with wide eyed wonder at the beauty, the intricacy of creation. The fields of wild flowers that grew not because someone planted them, but because that was just where they were supposed to grow. So they did. With wild abandon they grew, not caring if anyone saw them, they burst forth in color because color was what was within them.
At one point on that long stretch of concrete and asphalt, a hawk winged his way across four lanes of traffic. Probably looking for the little field creatures that scurry through the hedgerows alongside that busy highway. But it appeared as if he was passing judgement on the four-wheeled conveyances that were hurrying through this beautiful day seemingly thinking only of the destination. He soared with a glint in those piercing eyes, as if he knew a secret that we have forgotten.
One wonders if Moses was enjoying the scenery as he wandered around on that mountain, following his father-in-law’s sheep. Did he bother to look at the majestic mountain pressing upward into the cloud strewn sky? Did he see the wind carved sandstone sculptures in the rocks that surrounded him? Or was he more worried about what he might step in as he made his way up the mountain, not quite as spryly as the sheep he followed?
Well, at least that bush caught his eye. We can thank God for that. Literally.
Exodus 3:1-15 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There 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. 3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 He said, "I will be with you; and 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."
13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
Who knew that on that mountain in the back of beyond, Moses would stumble across God? Not Moses surely. He wasn’t looking. Didn’t want to be found, come to think of it. He was in his self-imposed witness protection program. Hiding out from the authorities back home who had his name plastered across post offices from Cairo to Goshen.
He let his temper get the best of him. Call it righteous indignation if you want, call it an act of justice - protecting one of the downtrodden who was being oppressed. But Pharaoh’s police force called it murder, and even the adopted grandson of the king himself couldn’t get away with murder. So, he ran for his life. Across the desert, he ran with blood dripping from his hands. Or at least it felt like it. His dreams were filled with a nightly re-enactment of his crime of passion. Had to have been. At least for a while. Maybe as the years passed, the hot sun and dry dust eroded his memories enough to honestly forget. Maybe he forgot what he did, where he came from, even who he was. I think that was his goal. This rescued Hebrew baby boy who grew up in the palace of the greatest king in the known world, wanted to forget everything. Except how to follow sheep up a mountain. “That’s all I am,” he thought, “all I’m good for, following sheep through the dusty middle of nowhere. Where nothing happens. Where no one goes.”
Except for God. “Take off your shoes,” the bush said. The bush? Yeah, the bush. The burning but not consumed bush. Burning but not consumed? Maybe that’s what drew him. Maybe after all these years of burning and being consumed, he wanted to see how it was possible for something to burn and yet not be consumed. Maybe it was the promise, maybe it was the hope that caused him to step aside long enough to have his whole life turned upside down and inside out.
“I’ve come to help,” said the bush, or the angel in the bush, or the voice that wasn’t the angel or the bush but seemed to transcend both. “My heart is broken with the pain of my people, so I have come to help. To set them free.” Great, thought Moses, what’s a bush gonna do against the might of a nation like Egypt? “I’ve come to help,” says the voice, “I’m sending you.” Say what, stutters Moses, I just follow sheep. I’m not a hero. “I will be with you,” says the voice as the flames crackle in the silence while Moses chews on this bit of news. And who are you, he ventures, wondering if that not consumed thing applied just to the bush.
As he made his way back across the desert to the land he had abandoned, but this time with a mission, an impossible mission to be sure, but you have to wonder if he rolled that name over in his mind with every sandy step. “I am who I am,” said the voice. “I will be who I will be.” Tell them “I am” sent you. I am will be with you.
He shook his head at the strangeness of the thought. And then a noticed a hawk flying low in front of him. It wheeled and circled and at one point it seemed to have a glint in its piercing eyes, as though it knew at secret he had almost forgotten. Or just been told. And his burden seemed lighter for a moment. He lifted his eyes to the hills and then the sky above, and it seemed his direction was mapped out with orangey-red clouds.
But secondly, wow. What a beautiful day. Last night I got to see one of those spectacular sunsets, where it looks as though God dipped a brush in the orangey-red colors of the divine palette and flung streaks of that bright color across the blue canvas of the sky. This afternoon as I headed back, it was bright and clear, an invitation to look with wide eyed wonder at the beauty, the intricacy of creation. The fields of wild flowers that grew not because someone planted them, but because that was just where they were supposed to grow. So they did. With wild abandon they grew, not caring if anyone saw them, they burst forth in color because color was what was within them.
At one point on that long stretch of concrete and asphalt, a hawk winged his way across four lanes of traffic. Probably looking for the little field creatures that scurry through the hedgerows alongside that busy highway. But it appeared as if he was passing judgement on the four-wheeled conveyances that were hurrying through this beautiful day seemingly thinking only of the destination. He soared with a glint in those piercing eyes, as if he knew a secret that we have forgotten.
One wonders if Moses was enjoying the scenery as he wandered around on that mountain, following his father-in-law’s sheep. Did he bother to look at the majestic mountain pressing upward into the cloud strewn sky? Did he see the wind carved sandstone sculptures in the rocks that surrounded him? Or was he more worried about what he might step in as he made his way up the mountain, not quite as spryly as the sheep he followed?
Well, at least that bush caught his eye. We can thank God for that. Literally.
Exodus 3:1-15 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There 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. 3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 He said, "I will be with you; and 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."
13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
Who knew that on that mountain in the back of beyond, Moses would stumble across God? Not Moses surely. He wasn’t looking. Didn’t want to be found, come to think of it. He was in his self-imposed witness protection program. Hiding out from the authorities back home who had his name plastered across post offices from Cairo to Goshen.
He let his temper get the best of him. Call it righteous indignation if you want, call it an act of justice - protecting one of the downtrodden who was being oppressed. But Pharaoh’s police force called it murder, and even the adopted grandson of the king himself couldn’t get away with murder. So, he ran for his life. Across the desert, he ran with blood dripping from his hands. Or at least it felt like it. His dreams were filled with a nightly re-enactment of his crime of passion. Had to have been. At least for a while. Maybe as the years passed, the hot sun and dry dust eroded his memories enough to honestly forget. Maybe he forgot what he did, where he came from, even who he was. I think that was his goal. This rescued Hebrew baby boy who grew up in the palace of the greatest king in the known world, wanted to forget everything. Except how to follow sheep up a mountain. “That’s all I am,” he thought, “all I’m good for, following sheep through the dusty middle of nowhere. Where nothing happens. Where no one goes.”
Except for God. “Take off your shoes,” the bush said. The bush? Yeah, the bush. The burning but not consumed bush. Burning but not consumed? Maybe that’s what drew him. Maybe after all these years of burning and being consumed, he wanted to see how it was possible for something to burn and yet not be consumed. Maybe it was the promise, maybe it was the hope that caused him to step aside long enough to have his whole life turned upside down and inside out.
“I’ve come to help,” said the bush, or the angel in the bush, or the voice that wasn’t the angel or the bush but seemed to transcend both. “My heart is broken with the pain of my people, so I have come to help. To set them free.” Great, thought Moses, what’s a bush gonna do against the might of a nation like Egypt? “I’ve come to help,” says the voice, “I’m sending you.” Say what, stutters Moses, I just follow sheep. I’m not a hero. “I will be with you,” says the voice as the flames crackle in the silence while Moses chews on this bit of news. And who are you, he ventures, wondering if that not consumed thing applied just to the bush.
As he made his way back across the desert to the land he had abandoned, but this time with a mission, an impossible mission to be sure, but you have to wonder if he rolled that name over in his mind with every sandy step. “I am who I am,” said the voice. “I will be who I will be.” Tell them “I am” sent you. I am will be with you.
He shook his head at the strangeness of the thought. And then a noticed a hawk flying low in front of him. It wheeled and circled and at one point it seemed to have a glint in its piercing eyes, as though it knew at secret he had almost forgotten. Or just been told. And his burden seemed lighter for a moment. He lifted his eyes to the hills and then the sky above, and it seemed his direction was mapped out with orangey-red clouds.
Shalom,
Derek
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