Moses - Servant of God - The Meekest Man in All the Earth
4 - An Encounter with God
In our discovery of the life of Moses, perhaps one of the most famous national leaders in history, we have reached the second stage in God's preparation of him. The first forty years of his life had been spent as an adopted member of the family of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. There he had been highly educated and trained as a prince, all this being part of God's plans for his future role in the deliverance of the Hebrew people from their slavery. After running away from Egypt because of his hasty action in killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses was taken in by a God-fearing family in the land of Midian and eventually employed by them as a shepherd. During that time he married a daughter of that household and they had a son born to them whom they called Gershom. This was a play on words because the name sounds like the Hebrew for "an alien there." We are told that Moses gave his son that name "because I have become an alien in a foreign land."
Moses worked faithfully as a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro for the next forty years of his life. Nearing the end of this period, leading his sheep one day to the far side of the desert, he came to Horeb, known as the mountain of the Lord. There he had a most amazing experience. He saw a bush on fire and yet it was not consumed. In the middle of the flames, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. As he approached the bush God called to him, twice repeating his name. Moses replied, "Here I am." He was then cautioned to draw near, but not too near. In other words, he was to express reverence in God's presence and be ready to obey. God then said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." God's holiness was declared, which demanded respect and submission on Moses' part. He was then reminded, by the voice from the bush, that God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of the nation of Israel. These were the patriarchs, men with whom God had communicated directly in the past. These men were each very different in personality, character and faithfulness, but not withstanding this God dealt very graciously with them and was pleased to be known as their God. Now he is about to reveal His purposes for this new servant of His, and for the nation of Israel itself. At this we are told Moses hid his face because he was afraid.
There followed a tremendous statement of intent from God himself: "I have seen the misery of my people. I have heard their crying out. I am concerned about their suffering." What encouragement God's people in every age can take from this! Nothing in relation to His people who trust in Him is overlooked by an all seeing, compassionate God. We then note the promise of action which God intended to take: "I have come down to rescue them and bring them up from the hand of their oppressors, and take them into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Forty years earlier Moses had tried to take matters into his own hands, but it was not God's time. Now the time had come. God had spent eighty years training this man for the great task He had for him. God said further, "I am sending you, Moses, to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt." Moses was obviously overcome by all this, and said to God, "But who am I (he had learned humility in the school of God in the wilderness) that I should go to Pharaoh? That I should bring them out", God replied immediately, "I will be with you".
It is very encouraging to note that God then made a promise to Moses saying, "This will be a sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain". Moses again showed his uncertainty about going to his fellow countrymen with this message from God, saying, "When they question me as to who commissioned me, whom shall I say is sending me, what is his name?" God's reply was immediate, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. "I am" has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation".
Every Christian believer can identify with these words, our trust and faith is in the unchanging, ever faithful promise-keeping Jehovah. As His servants we, like Moses, are privileged to live and work for such a God who commissions and equips us for His service. We can take to heart Paul's personal testimony in Philippians chapter 4 verse 13, "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives me strength".
God's final word to Moses from the burning bush was this "Gather together the elders of Israel and inform them of my promise to bring you up out of Egypt and your misery there, and take you into a new land, the land of the Canaanites - a land flowing with milk and honey" - milk speaking of sustenance, and honey of sweetness. Here is a picture of how God provides for His people in every age. One of God's Bible titles is Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord will provide, and He certainly does.
As we consider God's intention for His people, out of love for them, to provide deliverance from their slavery in Egypt, it serves to remind us of His goodness and grace in providing for our salvation from slavery - the slavery of sin. Down through the ages He worked out His purpose culminating in the precious gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Saviour of all who will by faith receive Him into their lives. All this because He is a God of love whose love encompasses all people. This is summed-up for us in the First Letter of John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10: "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is what love is, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." And not only this, but the believer has the promise of Christ's presence to help and to sustain. He has promised that He will be with His servants right through to the end of this day of grace and until He returns to take them home to be with Him in glory.
The promise of the divine presence is all that a sent servant of the Lord will ever need. Paul wrote centuries later to the Roman believers, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" In all that happened at the burning bush, Moses was made aware of the concern, the compassion and finally the commission of his God in relation to his people.
We shall see next time that Moses still needed more convincing before he would eventually return to Egypt to begin the final stage in God's purposes for him.