Acts 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. 33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. 35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Consider the place you’re standing right now. We can see where the world is and the shape its in. Sometimes it’s hard to see where we stand. Our life is a journey. We’re traveling. We’ll be on straight roads and curvy ones. We’ll go up steep grades to the mountains and we’ll be down in valleys. Even though a pilot has a course line to follow, he has about five miles of leeway. If he has to go off course he must still get back in line. As Christians, it would be great if life was a straight, smooth road. But it’s not.
Mount Sinai was rocky and desolate but God was there. Moses was told to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground. The next time God would be with Moses would not be a burning bush but a cloud of smoke. No one was even allowed to touch the mountain or they would die. Years before Moses was in Midian, the lands surrounding what was known as Mount Sinai. He was in a rough place. No doubt he was tired. There were no lush trees or green grasses, just rough and barren shrubs and rocks. It was here that God appeared to Moses.
He had been displaced from his family 40 years. Moses was born in Egypt and raised in the Pharaoh’s court. But his own Hebrew mother and other godly family members had a greater influence on him that did Egypt. If we remember to retain our identity as born again Christians, even if we find ourselves in a bad spot, we’ll still know we’re children of God. Moses was enjoying life. He left Egypt and learned about shepherd life. He married and had children. One day he had some sheep on the mountain. He probably knew the rocks and shrubs by name. He saw them so often and there were not that many. He knew this bush having walked by it many times before. This day it was on fire, glowing and burning. He could have said lightening struck it or the extreme heat did it. How often we give something else glory instead of God.
There is no such thing as a streak of luck. Horoscopes don’t know. In every trouble, no matter how bad, we still have much to be thankful for. If you know the Lord, the place you stand is holy ground. Moses had made the best of his situation. His father-in-law was the priest of the area and he married his daughter. When the bush was on fire Moses decided to look at it. It was burning but not consumed. Even in the roughest and driest times, we can still see a glow. We sense the presence of something out of the ordinary. There is one greater than the adversary. Draw near. You might not feel or sense it right away, but through the eyes of faith you can take God at his word. Hear the voice of God. Only when Moses drew near to the bush did the voice come.
“Moses, Moses.” God knows your name. Great fear came upon him. We’re more afraid of our problems or not being able to make ends meet. What surrounds us is not to be feared more than our God. He can take care of any problem; the deepest of Red Sea can be parted. God is near us. It we’ll turn aside God will speak. Moses forgot about the heat and the loneliness of the mountain. He was not alone. Where are you standing? Is it on stormy ground? Have you backslid? Sinned? God won’t be with us in our sin but he’s close by. You can see a glow if you’ll turn aside and take a step toward him.
We serve a “fixing” God. You’ll never run out of gas if you pull up to the pump and not get too far from it. Moses was reminded that God was right there with him. He didn’t know what to say. Who was he to tell the people sent him? “I AM.” That’s all we need. I AM. He’s not the God that used to be or that will be. He is GOD NOW. I AM. Moses was told to take off his shoes. The ground was holy.
We have a choice. Keep our defeated ground. Let things keep falling apart. Drown in troubles. Let the adversary push us down and get on top of us…OR…we can take our shoes off and call on the Lord so he can make it holy ground. Turn aside. Wait for the voice of God. He’ll be there and make sure our ground is holy ground.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 