“There the angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up….

… [And God said], “… 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?”

– Exodus 3:2, and 9-11.

Who am I, that I should write a devotional for SCGM? I, like Moses, can often become so caught up in trying to understand my role in God’s plan that I miss seeing the fire of God. 

Peter Enns, in the NIV Application Commentary on Exodus, writes: “The fact that the bush is not consumed demonstrates that the fire’s natural property is temporarily suspended. Fire normally burns wood, but here God holds it in abeyance… Moses would have been wise to learn a lesson from this burning bush. The God who is calling him is the God over creation… all are under his control. In light of this fact, made clear in the burning bush, Moses’ excuses in 4:1-17 to be exonerated from his responsibility are almost comical.” In Moses’s responses to God’s call, Enns comments that Moses “still seems to be fixated on his role in God’s plan more than on what God will do through him… Moses has still not learned that it is by the Lord’s might that this great deed will be accomplished.”

Keeping before me the wonderful reality that God Himself is acting with determined purpose to draw all nations to Himself, for His glory and for the good of the nations, is a constant challenge. We face a world of need, and that need can be overwhelming. 

In the initial stages of watching the COVID pandemic unfolds all over the world, I found myself asking “Lord – what can I do?”, wrestling with my desire to find my ‘place’ in God’s plan. I was reminded that prayer is not a ‘back up’ plan once everything is locked down and practical action limited, but it is a freedom-giving thrusting of ourselves on the generosity of our God who hears and who sees, and who holds everything under his control. 

Surely He will draw all people to Himself and redeem his creation, as He has promised. I needed to remember the lesson of God’s holy fire in the burning bush, and to rejoice in what God is doing before considering what action He may want me to take.

How do we respond to God’s call? Do we rejoice that He is doing a wonderful work, and loves us enough to gently fold us into His plan? Or do we respond with anxiety, wondering how our ‘place’ in His plan will work out? I pray that we may remember the fire Moses saw, and respond with great joy at what God is doing in our broken world.