Holy ground
This week's verses are Exodus 3:1-6:
Here God encounters Moses with signs and wonders. No sooner is Moses amazed then he forgets himself, is made aware of God's holiness, and becomes terrified. It's a conversion experience in the space of a paragraph.
How many of us have found God that way? We're dazzled at first, but then we become presumptuous and are quickly and suddenly reminded of his holiness. Then we are very afraid! For some of us this happens in cycles: rapture and euphoria, complacency and then shock; then it starts again.
Moses hides his face from God, the way Adam and Eve hid theirs in the cool of the garden of Eden, the way the tax collector hid his in prayer. It's interesting what a consistent theme this is among people who God favors. It's the body language of someone who "gets it," who is so aware of God's vastness that they are emotionally overcome. It's no small truth. Our systems get overloaded.
Moses knows what he is. He and God are not even in the same league! He's a murderer and a lost wanderer, a bit like Cain but not so evil. He is at the place in life that his decisions have taken him, and suddenly God appears and calls him out. We find out why a little bit later, but the important thing now is to see that God has just hit poor Moses with a kind of blitzkrieg of revelation.
Shock and awe. That's what we call it in American military doctrine. Rapid dominance, to use the technical term. Where with Abraham he just happened to be passing by, and with Jacob he wrestled man-to-man, with Moses he burns like phosphorous. He is pure light and power, holiness personified, light and sound overwhelming Moses' senses, putting him on the defensive.
If you look at Moses' life up until this point, he was kind of stubborn and impulsive. Maybe God needed to make his point up front if he was going to set the table for a serious conversation to follow. Kind of like firing a shotgun into the air before telling someone to get off of your land: You want to make sure they have your full attention if you don't want to repeat yourself. You'll see elsewhere that he uses this technique with Saul of Tarsus too.
Moses was on holy ground, and God wanted to make sure he had his full attention. "Freeze. Sandals off. Now." These are words of authority to a lost man who didn't know whose land he had wandered onto. And yet God was expecting him all along. This was no mistake.
Our life decisions take us in some strange directions sometimes, but God knows the path of our travel. He makes himself known, makes his power and authority known, and points us in the direction we need to go. We find out for the first time in our life what holy ground is, and that we've wandered onto it. If you're not afraid, you haven't been paying attention! Fear is healthy when it comes to relating to God, but even more important than healthy fear is obedience.
God's stern warning pays off. Moses' presumptuous brush with peril has been averted. Moses listens. The serious conversation can now begin. Do we listen the way Moses finally listened when God encounters us on his holy ground?
Next time you feel the presence of God, be sure to stop and listen, and do what he says! You're standing in a minefield of sin and judgment and only his authoritative command can lead you to safety. Respect his voice when you are on his holy ground and you will be as blessed as Moses.
Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked, and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” God said, “Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” He added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
Here God encounters Moses with signs and wonders. No sooner is Moses amazed then he forgets himself, is made aware of God's holiness, and becomes terrified. It's a conversion experience in the space of a paragraph.
How many of us have found God that way? We're dazzled at first, but then we become presumptuous and are quickly and suddenly reminded of his holiness. Then we are very afraid! For some of us this happens in cycles: rapture and euphoria, complacency and then shock; then it starts again.
Moses hides his face from God, the way Adam and Eve hid theirs in the cool of the garden of Eden, the way the tax collector hid his in prayer. It's interesting what a consistent theme this is among people who God favors. It's the body language of someone who "gets it," who is so aware of God's vastness that they are emotionally overcome. It's no small truth. Our systems get overloaded.
Moses knows what he is. He and God are not even in the same league! He's a murderer and a lost wanderer, a bit like Cain but not so evil. He is at the place in life that his decisions have taken him, and suddenly God appears and calls him out. We find out why a little bit later, but the important thing now is to see that God has just hit poor Moses with a kind of blitzkrieg of revelation.
Shock and awe. That's what we call it in American military doctrine. Rapid dominance, to use the technical term. Where with Abraham he just happened to be passing by, and with Jacob he wrestled man-to-man, with Moses he burns like phosphorous. He is pure light and power, holiness personified, light and sound overwhelming Moses' senses, putting him on the defensive.
If you look at Moses' life up until this point, he was kind of stubborn and impulsive. Maybe God needed to make his point up front if he was going to set the table for a serious conversation to follow. Kind of like firing a shotgun into the air before telling someone to get off of your land: You want to make sure they have your full attention if you don't want to repeat yourself. You'll see elsewhere that he uses this technique with Saul of Tarsus too.
Moses was on holy ground, and God wanted to make sure he had his full attention. "Freeze. Sandals off. Now." These are words of authority to a lost man who didn't know whose land he had wandered onto. And yet God was expecting him all along. This was no mistake.
Our life decisions take us in some strange directions sometimes, but God knows the path of our travel. He makes himself known, makes his power and authority known, and points us in the direction we need to go. We find out for the first time in our life what holy ground is, and that we've wandered onto it. If you're not afraid, you haven't been paying attention! Fear is healthy when it comes to relating to God, but even more important than healthy fear is obedience.
God's stern warning pays off. Moses' presumptuous brush with peril has been averted. Moses listens. The serious conversation can now begin. Do we listen the way Moses finally listened when God encounters us on his holy ground?
Next time you feel the presence of God, be sure to stop and listen, and do what he says! You're standing in a minefield of sin and judgment and only his authoritative command can lead you to safety. Respect his voice when you are on his holy ground and you will be as blessed as Moses.
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