Holy Ground

 

Monday, February 20, 2023

“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,  ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’  Acts 7:30-34

Even current day images of Mt Sinai leave no doubt Moses was in a wilderness place.  

After being kicked-out of Pharaoh’s palace, the former Jewish foundling child, raised as Pharaoh’s grandson, spent forty years in the shadow of Sinai, living a quiet life as a “nobody shepherd”.  Then came that burning bush which just wouldn’t leave him in peace. 

It's been that kind of time in Wilmore, Kentucky the last week.  

Wilmore is the site of Asbury University, where revival broke-into a chapel service, and has grown stronger each day, with no sign of letting up.  Revival is kind of that way; it shows up unannounced, and takes over.

Not having been there, I’m not about to offer any opinion on what’s happening, nor if the Asbury revival is a genuine move of God, or perhaps a cultural phenomenon, spurred by generations of longing for revival.  Either way, it is sweet music to hear of young people desiring God’s presence in their lives.  Like Moses, the young people of this century (as well as us older birds) have been in a dry, spiritual wilderness for too long. 

My prayer is that this local event in Wilmore spreads like a wildfire across this nation, and the entire globe. 

May there be a new awakening to God’s presence, love, and holiness.  May the fire of heaven’s glory light us up to prevail against the gates of Hell.

For You Today 

One consistent fact about revival is that it always begins with brokenness, a heart that cannot live in its own death-loving sinfulness any longer.  That is the place where God shows up, and it’s holy ground.  And that is exactly what John the Baptist meant when he shouted-out from a wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.[1]  What way?  It’s that pathway straight into our hearts so He can revive us.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Heart, Soul, and Strength  and  We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us!  and  Orchard of Driftwood  and Holy Ground  

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Matthew 3:3 ^(KJV)

Holy Ground

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Monday, February 24, 2020

“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them.  Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’  Acts 7:30-34[1]

“Forty years later…” that sounds about right.  When a story picks up in the middle some background perspective ought not be ignored; otherwise you can miss the point.  Forty years earlier Moses had escaped Egypt with his pinfeathers on fire.  Although his motive had been godly and well-intentioned, he’d overstepped his authority and was guilty of murder.  Banished from the place he’d grown up, Moses wandered into Midian, and became a nobody (instead of the important somebody he’d been). 

Moses was forty when he left Egypt as a convicted felon.  He crossed the desert fighting snakes and scorpions all the way until he arrived at Midian and became a sheep herder just to earn a living.  For the forty years of today’s text, Moses had become a husband, father, and trusted shepherd in the back country of nowhere.

When you’re young and full of dreams, ready to change the world, the dreams sometimes take a detour.  That doesn’t mean God is done with you; it means the dreams you thought were plans were only the beginning of what God’s been up to in your development.  Moses wanted to see his people (the Israelites he’d only recently discovered were his people) experience the freedom their God-given heritage promised.  He wanted to see injustice and hatred cease.  He wanted the bondage gone.  But, by the time the next forty years went by…far from Egypt’s epicenter of world events, Moses figured his day had come and gone. 

Cue the burning bush catching the eye of the adopted son of Pharaoh (now demoted to lowly shepherd) who’s wondering if he’s going crazy in the noonday heat; when does a bush burn, and never run out of branches to fuel the fire?

I can imagine Moses had built quite a comfortable life for himself, and now, at 80 he’s thinking retirement, and letting the kids take over the flocks.  But what was he really thinking…deep, down on the inside of his soul, when that voice spoke his name, telling him to slip off his sandals and get ready for the dream/reality of setting the people free?  We know he offered some excuses…I’m too old…I don’t talk so well…they wouldn’t listen…and probably more.  But what was he really thinking on the inside?  Doubt?  Fear?  Too tired?  Hey…I tried this once before and look what it got me…no…I can’t do this anymore.

Sound familiar?

I believe we humans too-often get gun-shy when it comes to stepping-out.  Particularly with age and the diminishing strength and stamina we feel.  On top of that physical reality looms the culture in which we live, extolling everything about being young, looking young, and how old is something to be avoided; the message is that young is where it’s at, and old is done.

But, is it really?  Over the next 40 years Moses became the mightiest leader the world has ever known.  And even then….

Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.  Deuteronomy 34:7

For You Today

Moses has been described as someone who had been a somebody but had to learn how to be a nobody before he was ready for the dream.  Where are you in that process?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

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[1] For another post on Moses at the Burning Bush see Battling the Dark 

Back to Egypt

[i]

Monday, February 27, 2017

“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.  As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’  Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.  “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them.  Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’  Acts 7:30-34^(NLT)

A pastor usually talks to a lot of people about such things as burning bushes.  In more than a few conversations over the years I’ve heard a statement such as:  If only I knew exactly what the Lord wants from me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

The pure fact about that kind of statement is that most people want God to be very clear with them, but the reason God never seems to give that clarity is because they have no intention of obeying if God says:  You’re going back to Egypt.

Moses had made a mess of his life back in Egypt.  He had a burning desire for his people, but went about things the wrong way, heavy-handed, brutal, even murder!  Now, with Yahweh speaking plainly from the miraculous bush that wouldn’t be consumed by fire, Moses hears he is being sent back to the place of humiliation, his worst defeat, and all he can do is come up with excuses.

Have you been there?  Done that?

The problem with going back to Egypt is that there’s always somebody there who knows what you were like back then.  It’s always someone who changed your diapers, or cleaned up your teenage mess.  Going back to Egypt was the last thing on Moses’ mind; he’d learned to love this quiet life tending sheep in Midian.  He had a life now; the past was where it should be…way back in memory land.

But God said it without stuttering; I’m sending you back to Egypt…now go!

Ouch!  Who wants to go back to the worst memory and do it all over again?

Now, if the story ended there I doubt there would be much inspiration for any of us to pick up and go back to Egypt.  But we know how it turned out for Moses, and therein is our burning bush witness.  God was true to His word, and backed up everything he said he would do.  We can read what happened with Moses; God was faithful.

The God who spoke to Moses back then is still speaking today.  God’s willingness to speak has never been the problem…and still isn’t; for us the main problem is that we stand like Moses, with the rest of our story unwritten as yet.  We stand fearful and full of excuses like the man in the New Testament parable of talents.  His buddies received small fortunes to manage, but the man who’d received the least responsibility was fearful of the owner’s power over him, so he hid what he’d been given in a hole in the ground.  He did nothing with the reality the burning bush put in his hands.

And at the day of accounting all the man could say to the owner was:  Here, I didn’t lose what you gave me…it is unchanged…you can have it back.  Can anyone doubt that the owner had something different in mind?

For You Today

What does God have in mind for that which He’s entrusted to you?  Has He ever called your name from the bush?  Has He ever mentioned going back to Egypt?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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Title image: Gebhard Fugel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons