When you read or hear a narrative account, whether it be a
novel or a retelling of some historical event, do you create pictures in your
brain of what you’re reading about? Do you visualize the places and people and
events that are described? If you do, perhaps you’ve experienced the odd
sensation that comes when you watch a movie based on a book you’ve read and
find that it looks nothing like what you imagined. I loved the Mandie series
when I was growing up, and I always had a distinct image in my head of the
layout of Mandie Shaw’s home. Several years later when a movie came out, the film
felt disorienting because the depiction of her home was nothing like the image
I had built in my mind.
This can happen, too, when it comes to the Bible. We grow up
hearing the accounts of historical events (frequently referred to as “Bible
stories”) so often that we form our own mental play-by-play of what happened,
what the setting looked like, etc. But sometimes when we read the actual
biblical account we find that our mental constructions don’t match up with how
Scripture describes what happened.
The account of the burning bush in Exodus 3 was one of those
descriptions for me. It’s an event familiar to many. God speaks to Moses from a
bush that’s burning but not being destroyed and tells him to go back to Egypt
and bring out the Israelites from their bondage. In my mind, this is how things
went down…
Moses is out in the wilderness with some animals, not
another person in sight, and suddenly he hears someone call his name. He turns
to look toward the sound and is astonished to see not a person but a bush that’s
on fire. He watches it for a moment and sees that, despite the flames, it’s not
being burnt up. He hears the voice again, and inches closer before being told
to take off his sandals because he is on holy ground.
Sound about right? I always thought so. But then one day as
I was reading Exodus 3—really reading it and paying attention—I realized I had
the details all wrong, and what a difference the details make! Notice that in
my mental picture, Moses heard something before he saw something. I always
imagined that God called out to Moses first, and then Moses went over to the
bush. But look at what the Bible actually says:
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law,
Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the
wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and
behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will
turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ When the Lord
saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses,
Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Do not come near; take your
sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground’”
(Exodus 3:1-5, ESV)
We, the audience, are told in verse 2 that the angel of the
Lord appeared to Moses from a flaming bush, but Moses didn’t know that yet. He’s
in the wilderness, notices something out of the ordinary, and the first thing
he does is look. All he knows at this point is that a bush is on fire; he
doesn’t know that God is there. So first Moses sees the bush. Then, since his
curiosity is piqued, he decides to head over and check it out. Notice he says,
“I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not
burned” (v. 3, emphasis added). The bush isn’t directly in his path. He has
to change his trajectory to take a look at it. And notice that he still hasn’t
heard anything yet!
Now check out what happens next: “When the Lord saw
that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush,
‘Moses, Moses!” (v. 4, emphasis added) The Bible doesn’t say, “Then God
called to him,” as if relaying a simple sequence of events. It specifically
says that it was only after God saw Moses’ interest that He revealed Himself. God
didn’t speak until Moses stopped what he was doing and came over to
investigate. He was silent until Moses stepped toward the sign He had supplied.
Of course, we should always be careful not to take
descriptive passages of Scripture and make them prescriptive (i.e. not take
passages that are merely describing what happened in one situation and try to
say that things should or will always happen that same way in every other
situation), but I think it is instructive to notice the following sequence of
events in this case: God acted, Moses responded, God revealed Himself.
There are other times in Scripture when God speaks first or
in concurrence with acting, without His speaking being predicated by a human’s
response (e.g. with Abram’s call in Genesis 12 or Saul’s experience on the
Damascus road in Acts 9), but in this instance God waited until Moses showed
interest before He communicated directly with him. The fact that God acted in
this manner at least once should at least give us pause and cause us to think
that perhaps He might do so again.
For instance, think of how God speaks to us through
Scripture. What if the Bible is like the burning bush—the living and active
Word of God that God has placed in our vicinity—and it takes our turning aside
from our everyday busyness and taking the steps to investigate it before God
reveals Himself to us? In other words, what if sometimes God only speaks to those
who are paying attention? We know the Bible consists of the very words of God,
but if we never study those words, much less read them, then we shouldn’t be
surprised when we feel that God is silent.
Incidentally, my experience with Exodus 3 illustrates this
point. I “knew” the account of the burning bush, but it wasn’t until I turned
aside and investigated that I really saw what it said. It was only after paying
attention that I was able to have an accurate understanding of what actually
happened—an understanding that the Holy Spirit then used to prompt me to
consider how important it is that I pay attention to what is going on around me
and especially to what God has said in His Word if I expect to hear from
Him.
So as I remind myself, let me encourage you to take the time
to turn aside. Be alert to what God might have to teach you if you’ll only take
the time to look. Because you never know if maybe He’s waiting for you to take
a step toward Him before He reveals Himself more fully to you.
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