When God Speaks

O.T.#131  "When God Speaks"
Exodus 3-Part 4
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.  Exodus 3:10

LET IT GLOW

What a blessing and a privilege it is for God to want to use us in His kingdom work! Do you want God to speak to you? How can you know it is God who is speaking? Are you willing to do what He wants you do, before He tells you? Moses' life  is a good example to help us find these answers.

Eighty year old Moses is taking care of sheep around Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai) when he sees a bush on fire, but it doesn't burn up. He decided to check out this unusual sight. When he drew near, God called to Moses. God was in the form of an angel of the LORD, Jesus Christ.

What did God say to Moses?

• God called Moses by name. (verse 4)
• Do not come closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. (verse 5 NIV)
• God identifies Himself to Moses. He is the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. (verse 6)
• God explains to Moses what is going on back in Egypt. He saw the misery of His people in Egypt, he heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and He is concerned about their suffering. (verse 7)
• God came down to rescue the Hebrews from the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up out of the land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. (verse 8)
• This land was the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.(verse 9)
• And now the cry of the Israelites has reached God, and He had seen the way the Egyptians were oppressing them.
• God told Moses, in NIV, "So now, go. I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." (verse 10)

Let me back up-Moses answered when God called his name, "Here I am," (verse 4) and he hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. (verse 6b)

God can choose which bush He desires to use whenever He wants. He wanted to use  the bush for Moses. He was about to set Moses on fire for His work of deliverance while protecting him from the trials that could destroy him. Was he available?
Even after we have failed God and think that we are useless, He will return to restore us and call us back into his service. When He does, there are 4 responses we can make:

1. We can run ahead before we are sent.
2. We can retreat after we have failed.
3. We can resist when we have been called.
4. We can remain available while we wait, and we can respond obediently when we are called.(Swindoll)

Has God chosen to speak to you today?
Is God trying to get your attention with a bush, figurative speaking.
Are you available to meet the need God wants to meet?
Will you heed the call of God?

LET IT GROW

What can we learn about Moses' call from God?
We should be ready for our call from God.

Oswald Chambers tells us in his devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest:

Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present. Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God.

Henry & Richard Blackaby and Claude King wrote in Experiencing God, Knowing and doing the will of God:

A critical requirement for understanding and experiencing God is clearly knowing when He is speaking. God speaks through the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. God speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church or other believers. How God spoke in the Old Testament is not the most important factor.  That He spoke is the crucial point those He spoke to knew He was God, and they understood what He was saying.

The burning-bush experience of Moses in Exodus 3 illustrates 4 truths about when  God spoke:

1.  The experience was usually unique to that individual. Moses had no precedent for a burning-bush experience. There were no other times when God spoke this way. It is personal to us. The method or technique is not as important as our relationship with God.
2. The person was sure God was speaking. Moses had to be certain it was God speaking, so he asked His name. In verses 6 and 14, God answers, "I am the God of thy father, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" and "I AM THAT I AM." 
3. The person knew what God said. Moses knew what god was telling him to do. He knew how God wanted to work through him. He understood exactly what God was expecting.
4. That was an encounter with God. When God reveals truth to you, by whatever means, that is a divine encounter. That is an experience of His presence in your life. He is the only One who can.

Are we ready for God to speak to us?

LET IT GO

Tune out the world and listen to what God has to say to me when He speaks.

Welcome God speaking to me.

When God speaks, don't run, retreat, or resist, but be available, then obey what He speaks.