Exodus 3:3-4
So he said, “I will go closer to this strange thing. How can a bush continue burning without burning up?” When the Lord saw Moses was coming to look at the bush, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
There are a bazillion types of bushes. Tall ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones, the kind with 2 birds in them and the kind that rule over the free world – twice. Bushes aren’t rare, and that was surely the case on the backside of the desert for Moses. But one that burns and is never burned up? Now that was enough to catch his attention, and typically that’s what we teach about from this passage. Preacher man gets up and says that God called Moses from within a burning bush to go and deliver His people from slavery and we all shout, “Amen!” After all, that is what the story says, right?
Well, yes. I was trying to build this dramatic pause, but the truth is that the passage says exactly what the preacher man preaches. Of course, if you look at that burning bush from a different angle, I think you might see another question in it, one that made me squirm a bit when I heard God ask it. Ready?
{There’s that dramatic pause I was looking for.}
Here it is: if God got Moses’ attention by burning a bush so that He could call Moses to something great, how do you suppose He plans on getting the attention of others around you so He can call them to something great? That’s right. He’s planning on burning you up, too. While I was reading this passage earlier, I had to ask myself if people ever saw my life burning for Christ and felt compelled to mover closer to investigate? Ouch.
The challenge for us all, then, is to become “this strange thing” that God uses to call the world to Himself. He has a plan for them all, and it begins with a fire that burns us up. Like the guys in National Treasure lighting a torch to find their way in the cave, am I willing to be the flame that helps others around me see Him more clearly? On my worst days, I want no part of that plan, but on my best days, I think my answer is that I hope so. I hope that He finds me willing to sit on the backside of the desert waiting for the time that He strikes the match and throws it on me. If I am patient, it will be the perfect time – the time that God deems most profitable for His purpose and glory.
Scary? Sure. But at least I know who holds the match, and if I trust Him, it makes all the difference. I can trust that He knows when to burn me and that I won’t be totally destroyed in the process. In fact, my life will serve it’s purpose by providing what others need to find theirs. I’ll be the fire that they sing around as they make s’mores, and isn’t that what Paul meant when he said that he was being poured out like a drink offering? Sure it was.
So light the fire, Lord, people around us have destinies to discover, callings to fulfill, and…
…marshmallows to roast.
