Being Found

Sunday, January 4 2015

I have a friend who has wounds so deep that she resists compassionate love of others. Caring people have reached out to my friend. They would give their lives for her (if fact, in may ways they´ve done precisely that). Yet she runs from their love. She fears being loved. The love offered to her is so strong, and her heart so weak, that it terrifies her. It seems safer just to stay in her cocoon.

Moses had faced much loss. His first days out of the womb were traumatic; he was rescued from a murderer. Then he was separated from his family and raised in Pharaoh´s house. Finally, he had to flee after he killed an Egyptian who was beating one of his Hebrew brethren.

Now, years later, the Scripture says Moses was in the wilderness. This word described the geography, but it also described Moses' life. He was far from home, far from his people, far from his normal life.

In this wild place, Moses happened upon a burning bush - a bush that remarkably didn´t burn up! Moses drew closer. A voice crie out from the burning bush, "Moses! Moses!" (Exodus 3:4). He took another step, and the voice thundered : "Do not come any closer... Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground" (v.5).

As if this wasn´t enough to rattle the man to the core, the voice then introduced Himself as the God of his ancestors! Moses stood in the presence of the Almighty. His response? "He covered his face because he was afraid" (v.6).

God had come to Moses and would compassionately care for him - just as He had done for decades. As He comes to us today, may we be open to His strong love. - Winn Collier

Read
Exodus 3:1-15
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up."
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am."
"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the 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 said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites : 'I am has sent me to you.' "
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers -- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."

Question to Ponder
Does the idea of an encounter with the Almighty make you tremble in any way?
What is it about God´s power or love that terrifies you?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015 issue