God Calls Moses
“Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.” (Exodus 3:6)
Hebrews 11:23 says, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” Moses’ parents hid him out of love, obviously, but also “by faith.” Apparently, God told them that He would use Moses to free Israel. They in turn told Moses and he grew up with this truth, which is why Acts 7:25 says “For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them:”
As Moses grew up as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and technically Pharaoh’s grandson, he may have thought God would let him become Pharaoh one day. Yet when he killed the Egyptian, that idea crashed. Suddenly Moses was no longer heir to the throne. He was a fugitive: “Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.” (Exodus 2:15)
For about forty years, Moses lived in Midian, working for his father-in-law: “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian:” (Exodus 3:1) After all this time, Moses may have disregarded the idea of being used by God to deliver Israel, but God had not.
One day Moses led the flock to the backside of the desert. God revealed Himself to Moses there: “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2) Moses drew closer to see why the bush was 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.” (Exodus 3:4)
God then said, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5) Moses needed to approach God with reverence. God then said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The Bible then says, “…And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” (Exodus 3:6)
God is not “the man upstairs,” as some may call Him. He is “…the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;” (Isaiah 57:15) He holds all power and knows all: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5) He made us, and He deserves our worship and reverence: “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” “Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.” (Psalm 95:6, Psalm 99:5)
God is also far smarter than any of us: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
Yet God also loves us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We may not always understand God’s love, especially when terrible things happen in life, but we can accept it as true. Those of us who have kids would find it awful to give our child a horrible death to help someone else, but that’s exactly what God did. He gave His Son Jesus to die a horrible death for our sins, be buried, and rise again.