Latest / KCMS Spirit 105.3 / The Bible For Busy People - Divine Presence - All Fired Up - Exodus

Transcript

The Bible For Busy People - Divine Presence - All Fired Up - Exodus · KCMS Spirit 105.3

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  Speaker 1: Purposely. Your life. God's purpose. Listen at Purposely.com.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to the Bible for Busy People podcast.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: It's a new week. I'm Jen, and one of the
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  Speaker 2: most exciting topics I can remember learning about in school
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  Speaker 2: was fire safety. It was exciting because I hadn't had
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  Speaker 2: the need to actually practice it, so it felt unknown
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  Speaker 2: and just exciting and different to me. I remember firefighters
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  Speaker 2: visiting our school, checking out fire trucks. Hearing Smokey Bear
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  Speaker 2: say only you can prevent forest fires and even getting
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  Speaker 2: to try out this camper that had been rigged to
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  Speaker 2: expel smoke so we could practice an escape. Again, it
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  Speaker 2: felt exciting and I was curious because I had never
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  Speaker 2: had to experience an out-of-control fire in real life. Fire
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  Speaker 2: has all kinds of factors to it. It can be useful, warm,
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  Speaker 2: and comforting in some circumstances. It can also be powerful, unchecked,
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  Speaker 2: and frightening in others. It's an image that appears throughout
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  Speaker 2: the Bible, and it holds symbolism in a number of ways,
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  Speaker 2: which we are going to be looking at this week
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  Speaker 2: on the podcast. Today we're reading from Exodus 3, and
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  Speaker 2: we're starting in verse 1. Moses saw that though the
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  Speaker 2: bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So
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  Speaker 2: Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight,
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  Speaker 2: why the bush does not burn up. When the Lord
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  Speaker 2: saw that he had gone over to look, God called
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  Speaker 2: to him from within the bush, Moses, Moses. And Moses said,
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  Speaker 2: Here I am. Do not come any closer, God said.
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  Speaker 2: Take off your sandals, for the place where you are
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  Speaker 2: standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the
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  Speaker 2: God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God
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  Speaker 2: of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses
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  Speaker 2: hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
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  Speaker 2: Reasonable reaction. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the
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  Speaker 2: misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them
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  Speaker 2: crying out because of their slave drivers and I am
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  Speaker 2: concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to
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  Speaker 2: rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to
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  Speaker 2: bring them up out of that land into a good
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  Speaker 2: and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey,
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  Speaker 2: the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
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  Speaker 2: And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me
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  Speaker 2: and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
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  Speaker 2: So now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to
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  Speaker 2: bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. This is
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  Speaker 2: probably the most recognizable example of God's presence in fire
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible. It was a sight that could only
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  Speaker 2: draw in, startle, stump, and stop. Kind of like our
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  Speaker 2: own experience when we encounter our multifaceted, set-apart, beyond comprehension God.
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  Speaker 2: God sparks our curiosity and wonder. On the Working Preacher blog,
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  Speaker 2: Professor Dennis Olson says, In part, the ever-burning shrub out
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  Speaker 2: in the wilderness signals God's merciful accommodation. God comes down
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  Speaker 2: from the mountain of God to meet Moses in the bush.
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  Speaker 2: At the same time, the inextinguishable flame is a sign
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  Speaker 2: of God's awesome and powerful holiness— a fiery holiness that
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  Speaker 2: is both dangerous and attractive, frightening and comforting, untamed but reassuring.
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  Speaker 2: God's holiness required Moses to remove his sandals. This was
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  Speaker 2: and is a practice of reverence and a holy place.
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  Speaker 2: But Olson points out something I had never considered, that
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  Speaker 2: the removal of shoes for Moses, someone wandering far from
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  Speaker 2: home and even rejected by his own people, was an
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  Speaker 2: indication of Moses finding home in God's presence. God self-introduces
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  Speaker 2: as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
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  Speaker 2: the God of Jacob in that format. Bible Hub shares
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  Speaker 2: that this is indicative of God having personal relationships with
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  Speaker 2: each of the three forefathers. Also, it indicates the generational link,
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  Speaker 2: the independent encounters of each of these individuals, the lineage,
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  Speaker 2: and also the passing on of a legal covenant and inheritance.
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  Speaker 2: Here in this story, Moses hid his face out of fear,
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  Speaker 2: a point that we're going to come back to. But
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  Speaker 2: it is so very human and real. Our first reaction
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  Speaker 2: is curiosity and wonder. Our second, upon coming face to
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  Speaker 2: face with God, would naturally be fear in the face
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  Speaker 2: of holiness, power, and majesty. On the Center for Excellence
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  Speaker 2: in Preaching blog, Stan Mast says, That interplay of divine
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  Speaker 2: and human, revelation and response, grace and faith, will characterize
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  Speaker 2: the entire story of the Exodus and, indeed, the story
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  Speaker 2: of redemption through Christ. And then we see God explaining
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  Speaker 2: about hearing the cries of the Israelites, a description of
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  Speaker 2: God's compassion, and then an abrupt call to Moses. So
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  Speaker 2: now go, I am sending you. Moses responded the way
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  Speaker 2: one might expect, but eventually he took on the task. Thankfully,
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  Speaker 2: the presence of God does not change through this whole adventure.
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  Speaker 2: Another example of God's tangible presence shows up in Exodus
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  Speaker 2: 13 when God shows up as a pillar of fire
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  Speaker 2: to lead the Israelites through the desert, and also a
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  Speaker 2: pillar of cloud. God guided and protected through this pillar
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  Speaker 2: of fire, and it served as a visual reminder for
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  Speaker 2: the Israelites that God was there, that they were not
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  Speaker 2: abandoned to the desert. I've been reading the book of
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  Speaker 2: a friend of mine, Becky McCoy, called In the Company
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  Speaker 2: of the Weary, where she shares about spiritual practices. And
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  Speaker 2: one practice is iconography, something visual that represents a spiritual truth.
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  Speaker 2: She talks about icons as being, her quote, a structured
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  Speaker 2: practice of telling a two-dimensional story rich with symbolism and intention.
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  Speaker 2: that serves as a lens so we can see past
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  Speaker 2: it to the sacred behind the story. Clearly, the Israelites
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  Speaker 2: had more than an icon. They had God's physical presence.
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  Speaker 2: But it makes me think about having tangible reminders in
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  Speaker 2: everyday life that point us to God when we feel
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  Speaker 2: weary or we feel like our faith is lacking. Always
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  Speaker 2: simply as an arrow pointing to God, not as something
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  Speaker 2: to worship in itself. That tangible thing for you might
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  Speaker 2: be the sunrise or the stars at night, a piece
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  Speaker 2: of art, a song or a poem. That reminds you
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  Speaker 2: of God's presence, guidance, and protection. And then finally, in
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  Speaker 2: the desert, Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai, which appears
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  Speaker 2: to the people as fire descending on the mountain. You
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  Speaker 2: can read about that in Exodus 24, verses 15 through 18.
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  Speaker 2: Exodus 33 11 says that the Lord would speak to
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  Speaker 2: Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.
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  Speaker 2: It's such a beautiful picture to me, thinking of Moses
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  Speaker 2: going from hiding his face to talking with God face
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  Speaker 2: to face. God's presence draws us in, makes us curious,
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  Speaker 2: can make us afraid, but ultimately the goal is this,
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  Speaker 2: a deep, intimate relationship as between two close friends. So
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  Speaker 2: I'll leave you with this question. How might we cultivate
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  Speaker 2: our curiosity, wonder, holy fear, reverence, and better understanding of
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  Speaker 2: God to grow nearer to God? I'll leave you with that.
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  Speaker 2: Let's talk again tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to The Bible for Busy People.
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