Moses and the bush

I can tell you, brethren, this, it doesn't get any fresher than this. This word just came to me, actually yesterday, and I was trying to develop it a little more, but just give it to you and trust that the Lord will use it to move upon our hearts. Exodus chapter 3, and if we actually look at the very end of chapter 2, it's interesting that it says, the last verse of chapter 2, And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Or at least God had respect unto their need. That word there for looked, notice, let's go down now, chapter 3. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and led the flock up to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. Horeb means dry or desolate.

Moses was actually looking for food for these sheep. Of course, he had left, we know, he had left Egypt years before, and now he's doing this, and then God is going to call him. It says, And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

This bush is actually a thorny bush. That's the idea here. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. The number of times that we've seen this word here, look, is the same word each time.

God looked, God appeared. That's another, the same reference to it. And then now Moses sees, and he looks at this bush.

And as I was thinking of this, I just want to leave you with this. It's a very, very simple thought here, but that Moses is in a place where he does not expect to be spoken to by God. He wasn't looking for God to speak to him.

He was actually on the run. He was actually, he had settled down. He had left Egypt.

He had fled and so on. And he was just a shepherd. And yet God speaks to him in a very unexpected place, in a very unexpected way, at a very unexpected time.

Now we have come here, I trust and pray, that we've all come here anticipating to hear the voice of God, to get something from God. So, here is a man now, and God is going to use him, and it says, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. And it's a bush.

And he's in the desert. The desert, the place of, I know when we picture a desert, the very meaning of the word desert comes from to be deserted. It doesn't have the idea of sandiness.

It has the idea of loneliness. And so, as he's here, and he's keeping these sheep, he's doing something legitimate. God speaks to him, and he's going to change this man in a tremendous way.

But I want you to notice just four things very quickly. I almost feel like I'm doing this injustice, but I'll leave it to you. Number one, he says, I will.

I will. So that there has to be that personal experience with God. This is not going to be second-hand experience.

These aren't going to be something where someone has told Moses that, you know, there's a burning bush in that desert there, and horrible. You should go see it. It's tremendous.

This is a unique experience that is personally happening to Moses right now. And he has the choice to either stop and look at that bush, and ask questions, and delve further and deeper and dig, or he can pass on. Every one of us are faced with a choice as this conference commences.

And not just at this conference, but really on a daily basis. But this conference affords a tremendous experience of concentrated, as it were, teaching of the Word of God, exhortation, instruction. And we all have a choice.

We all have a choice to say, I will. I will. Or I won't.

That's the first thing. Personal experience. And he has to have it himself.

Can't be passed on. Can't be looking at a travel brochure about the burning bush in the desert and the unique thing. He has to experience this himself.

That's number one. Number two, he says here, I will now turn aside. There was the immediacy of that moment.

That this was happening right now. And God often speaks, and when he does, and we've often heard this in the Gospel, one of his favorite words is come. But it's not come tomorrow, it's come now.

Isaiah 1, come now and let us reason together. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, now is the day of salvation. And so Moses, while he sees this experience, he doesn't say to himself, God is actually not going to allow him because this bush is not going to burn forever.

This is an immediate experience. This is priority. And Moses, as he looks at this, he says, I will now.

He's not saying, you know what? Obviously, the bush isn't being consumed. So it'll maybe keep burning. I could come back tomorrow.

There'll be enough of the bush tomorrow because it's not burning up. No, no, no. He says this is an experience for the moment.

This is now. God draws near to us. And at times when God is calling to us, he's putting something upon our hearts, something he's touching our lives.

He's touching our minds, touching our wills. God expects, demands because of the very nature of who he is, but as well because of what he is doing with us and wants to do. He says, this is now.

This weekend will quickly, if the Lord be not come over the weekend, will quickly be a blur and a moment. And every one of us not only have the personal choice, but as well, the immediate moment of now. But there's one more thing.

What is the choice? What is the experience? He says, I will now turn aside. There has to be a dedication. There has to be a focus.

There has to be an attention that is singularly, uniquely given to what is happening and to what is going to happen as God is going to speak to him. Now, this is interesting because so often, and I know there's always a tendency because of the way life is lived, that as this conference goes on, there are even legitimate things that will beckon and call at us. There are the affairs of life.

There's the job. There's this. There's the family.

There's this. But Moses is making this clear. He says, I will turn aside.

Shepherding sheep is a tremendous thing. Legitimate. But he says, this is more important right now.

The one thing that is the most important thing, not even in activity for God, is the listening to the voice of God himself and hearing it. And that's why it says, and the Lord appeared unto him in the bush. The angel of the Lord, which is the pre-incarnate Christ.

He says, I will turn aside. That is something, again, that must characterize and did characterize this man Moses, to be able to turn aside even from the legitimate things and certainly from the illegitimate things that would capture and captivate hearts, minds, wills, attention. And he says, I've got to focus on this.

Now, one thing is clear as I want you to think about this. Sight gives way to sound. Follow me on this.

We can see things from a long way off, can't we? We can see things miles away. When I come into Parkersburg, when I'm down the road a mile, I can see that water tower. But I tell you what, unless I'm on the cell phone, I will never hear my wife's voice.

Never. But I can see from a distance. Okay, once God has Moses' attention, after he sees, he is drawn near.

And what happens? Then he hears. You see the steps? And then God speaks. At first, it's just the sight of the bush.

He's wondering why. It's piqued his attention. It's causing him to think, that's tremendous.

We need to do that. But the more important thing is this. We need to hear his voice.

And this is not in a general way. God says, calling him by name. In that one of those famous double calls, Saul, Saul, Abraham, Abraham.

And so on. Moses, Moses. I firmly believe, if we personally are willing, and we turn aside, during this weekend, God will speak, personally, calling each one of us by name.

And in an amazing, unique fashion, as only the omnipotent, omniscient God can do. He will meet every single need. He will speak to every single individual.

Moses, Moses. John, John. Frank, Frank.

Sam, Sam. Whatever it is, he will draw near. The last thing I want you to think of is this.

Not only was this personal. Not only was this pointed. But I want you to think about, and not only was this a priority, where you had to turn aside.

This was productive. The result, listen, you can't see a burning bush and become unfazed. You can't hear the voice of God and be unchanged.

That is the tremendous reality of the product of what was produced in Moses' life. And Moses goes from this. It says he saw a bush that burned.

Think about this man. This man, Moses, saw Egypt. He saw the glory of the Nile.

He saw the majesty and the mystery of the pyramids. He saw what it was to fight on the battlefields of Thebes and Memphis. He was a tremendous military leader, history tells us.

This man saw it all. And yet, one day, in the backside of a desert, in the sand and the loneliness, he sees a bush. And he hears the voice of God.

And it changes everything. And it will for us. My God, help us to expect it.

Moses never expected it. How much more can we get if we expect it? And God will deliver. And he will draw near for his glory and for our benefit and blessing.