Dare to Dream: Your Burning Bush Devo

January 27th, 2019

Devotional

“Dare to Dream: Your Burning Bush” -

    Exodus 3: 1-15

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Monday: “Burning Bush” - Exodus 3: 1-3

  Moses had been through a lot in his early years. He had been born in a time when he should have been slaughtered simply for being a Hebrew, male child. Yet his mother risked her life to save his. She wove a basket out of reeds and placed Moses in it, hoping and knowing that someone would rescue him and raise him. She gave up her most precious piece of herself in this world, her newborn baby, in order to save him and to give him the life that she wished for him. She had her daughter, watch over the basket to make sure no harm came to her son, until the daughter of the Pharaoh came and drew him out of the water. She named him, Moses, and cared for him as if he was her very own.

Moses knew that he was different, that he was a Hebrew who was revered as an Egyptian. But he still considered the Hebrews who worked around him to be his brothers. One day he saw one of Pharaoh’s men who was set to supervise the Hebrews work as salves, strike one of his Hebrew brothers. And Moses killed him and buried him in the sand.

Later Moses saw two Hebrew men scuffling, and one hit another. When Moses asked them why they were quarreling with one another, the one who struck the other verbally lashed out at Moses, asking if he was going to kill him as a Hebrew, the same way that he had killed the Egyptian. Moses’ murderous secret was out. It had even reached the ears of Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses, thinking that true blood ran deeper and thicker than those who were raised as family. So Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he married one of the priest of the area’s daughters and formed a life for his family there as a shepherd. While Moses started his life as a sojourner, the Pharaoh who sought to kill him died, and the hardships of the children of Israel increased under the new régime.

Which brings us to our point in the story today. Moses was tending to the flock of sheep owned by his father in law. He was alone in the wilderness, when a messenger from the Lord sent a flame onto a bush that burst out of the bush, but did not consume it. A sight never before experienced. Moses, realized that he was standing on holy ground, because of this unnatural occurrence. He turned his face away from the holy sight, and the voice of God called to him from the midst of this burning, but unconsumed bush, calling him by name. Moses responded by taking off his sandals, for his was standing on holy ground.

How does Moses past lead him to the burning bush?

How do you see the hand of God in your life, redeeming your moments?

Prayer: God, we thank you for that even when we screw up that you do not leave us nor forsake us. We ask, O Lord, to redeem our moments in order to shine forth your Kingdom. Make us attentive to your movement in our lives, so that we can follow you. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Holy Ground” - Exodus 3: 4-6

Holy ground is a place in time that is defined not only by the presence of our Holy God, but of a turning point - a time when we have been given a choice to either stay where we are in or to move forward, and that is exactly where the Israelites were in this story. Each day they had a choice to make - to continue to silently march around the city before returning to camp, or to do things there own way in their own timing. Each day they had a decision to make, and they made the right one - to glorify God. Like their forefather Moses, so long ago with the burning bush, they found themselves on holy ground marked by choice after choice. What are the holy ground moments in our lives today and what will we choose?

  What are some of the moments in your life when you found yourself standing on holy ground? How did you know? 

How can we prepare to choose God’s ways over our own? 

Prayer: Almighty God, you are the God of choices. You gave us free will so that we could choose your ways. Yet, O God, we confess that all too often we choose our own paths, missing the holy moments you have for us. Forgive us, we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “I Will Send You” - Exodus 3:7-10

God laid it all out for Moses saying, “I am the God of your father, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have seen the affection of my children, my very people, in Egypt and I have heard their cries in the face of the salve drivers. I have known their suffering. So I came down here, into this moment in time, into this bush, to you, to rescue them and bring them up to a land beyond their wildest imaginations. So go! I am choosing you, I am sending you to Pharaoh, to bring my people out of Egypt.”

Why was Moses chosen?

What is something that you feel that God has chosen you for?

Prayer: Lord, we thank you that you fill our days with purpose - and not just any purpose, but with your purpose. Speak your call into our lives, O God, and do not give up on us. May we listen to your still small voice. Amen. 

Thursday: “Who Am I?” - Exodus 3: 11-12

  Moses did not exactly go at first. He recognized that he was hearing God. He turned away from the bush because he was afraid to see the face of God. He took off his sandals because he knew he was standing on holy ground. But he was afraid. He was afraid of the past, of what he had left behind in Egypt. He had worked so hard to shed the shell of who he once was, how he had defined himself, as a murder. Here this Holy being, had come to him and commanded him to strike out on the path of new beings. God had commanded him to leave behind the memories of his past that had consumed and defined him, and to leave behind his present safety for his family and himself, and move forward. God knew of Moses fear, even when all Moses could ask was “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I?”

God can redeem all moments for his glory. Sometimes we need the memories of the past to propel us into a new direction in the future. But other times those memories become toxic – the type of memories that help us define ourselves and our mission in human terms instead of God’s terms. But And human terms and definitions lead to messes. Moses realized this - can you imagine the guilt and fear that consumed him for years because he saw himself as one thing and one thing only – a murder. He saw himself, not as a kin of the holy, chosen people, but as one who was self-banished from them. Set apart from his family for his own self-flagellation. Inherent in Moses asking God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” is the bigger question, “Who am I that I am good enough to deserve to be spoken to by God? To be given a mission from God? To be allowed a new beginning?”

When is a time that you felt that you were not worthy of the call of God? How did you respond? How did God respond?

Prayer: Lord, all too often, we have responded to your call with excuses, especially excuses about why we do not feel that we are up to the task or worthy. Keep calling, O Lord. Remind us that on our own we are not worthy, but that you call us anyway because you are worthy. Remove any stumbling blocks we have placed and send us forth in your name. Amen.  

Friday: “I Am Who I Am” - Exodus 3: 13-15

  New beginnings are hard for us to understand sometimes, because we think that we need to forget whom we are or where we came from in order to start over. We think that we need to give up on the memories that have formed us – both the good and the bad – in order to choose the way of a new beginning, but this simply is not true. God’s name is defined in this passage of scripture to Moses, as “I will be there however I will be there.” Or in our English translations, “I am who I am.” Believe, brothers and sisters, that which is impossible for us to truly understand. God is not confined by our sense of time – of the past, present, and future. God simply is. Because of this incomprehensible truth, God simply asks us to sojourner the direction laid before us. And because God has given us free will, when we reach a fork in the road of our journey, we have a choice to make, will we continue to move forward into the unknown, or will we stay stuck?

How does the name and message of God empower Moses?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for not sending us out on our. Thank you for sending us out in your name and with your presence right beside us. Embolden us, we pray, all for the sake of your Kingdom. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Dare to Dream: Losing Your ‘Buts’”- Jonah 1