Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “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 surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of 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 place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers 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.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
This is one of the most famous passages of Scripture and worthy of a dozen devotions. I am always struck by how Moses is trying his best to get out of this job. He cannot imagine that God has right person to rescue His people. But Moses is not alone in that. God regularly uses unlikely folks to save His oppressed people. God found Gideon hiding in a wine press. David was a shepherd boy when he slew Goliath. Esther was young woman who saved her people by throwing dinner parties. I always have thought her to be the Martha Stewart of saviors. Peter was a fisherman. Even someone like the Apostle Paul was a most unlikely preacher of forgiveness in Christ’s name.
God saw then the suffering and oppression of his people and raised up Moses, unlikely Moses. 80 years old and a felon on the run from the very justice system of the Pharaoh whom he was supposed to convince to let the people go. God has seen the suffering and oppression of people today. Moses did not wake up that morning and think that he would be a great rescuer of God’s people. But you did not wake up this morning thinking that either. Yet, God who once saw oppression and suffering sees it today as well. He is still calling and that call may come to you.
Just as the people God used in subsequent generations were not like Moses, they also did not get a burning bush event. Some of them, Saul of Tarsus for instance, did see something dramatic. But others, Esther for example, was challenged to stand up and rescue her people because her uncle urged her to do this thing. God is also calling you. I don’t know how that will look or sound, but I do know that He still sees his suffering people. It might just be one person or a whole nation’s worth, but He sees. He calls. He may be calling you today. Listen for Him.