- araratchurch
- Jul 1, 2022
- 3 min read
“Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.””
Exodus 3:3-4 NKJV
A person’s name is very powerful. You can call someone’s name across a big parking lot and—if they hear you—they will turn and look.
Many years ago something happened that we have since gotten a lot of good laughs over. I went to get fuel for my white 1985 Delta 88. [Backstory: recently, my husband had caught me gone to a conference and had turned my vehicle into a “hot rod.” Yes, I had proper rims, pink trim replacing the chrome trim, and a big “Heartbreaker” decal across my front windshield. Oh, he also got an airbrushed tag for the front that said “Janet.”] As I am walking to the pump I hear a voice calling out to me, “Hey, Janet!” Naturally, I looked to see and saw this very “roughrider” of a man (no offense to roughriders) looking at me. Now, coming from a minister’s family, I have always been aware of the importance of knowing people’s names; I never wanted anybody to think that I didn’t know or remember their name. That being said, I looked at this man and replied, “Oh, I didn’t see you standing over there!” You see, my assumption was that I should know who he was. I didn’t; therefore my response. He now looked at me for a moment as we maintained eye contact and said, “You don’t know how I know your name, do you?” I made no response, but just kept looking at him. Now he points to the front of my car and says, “It’s written right there on the front: ‘Janet.’” Well, you can imagine the laughs we’ve gotten out of that over the years. But this story proves the point that your name is a powerful thing.
When I was a very young girl it was a popular thing to do, that if you “liked” a guy, you would write his name over and over again; something about writing that “special” name was very satisfying. (This didn’t work out well for me when my mother once discovered my name writing that I had left in the bathroom; I was not supposed to “like” any guy.)
Did you know that the Lord speaks of something very similar in terms of His love for His people?
“Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.”
Isaiah 49:14-16 NLT
Now, I dare say, if the Lord knows those who are His, He keeps all their (our) names constantly before Him. God is not an impersonal, cosmic CEO way off somewhere; He is our father and He knows who we are.
“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,…””
II Timothy 2:19 NKJV
When we left Moses yesterday he had turned aside to see why the burning bush was not being consumed. Now, we see that when the Lord observes Moses coming to investigate, He calls out Moses’ name. Moses immediately responds, “Here I am.”
Because of circumstances in your life, maybe even because of your own failings, you may be of the opinion (subconsciously or consciously) that the Lord doesn’t know or care about you. It’s hard to imagine that the Creator of all that is would actually know us personally. But indeed He does. And when He calls us, He does so directly, knowing who we are and what He wants us to do.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Lord knows your name.
- araratchurch
- Jun 30, 2022
- 3 min read
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.””
Exodus 3:1-3 NKJV
Let’s face it, a lot of people want to see some awesome supernatural occurrence. Even in the church we often see people drawn by signs and wonders. Certainly, signs and wonders are meant to confirm the word of God. But it is not good when people get caught up on the notion of having to see something extraordinary in order to believe what God has said. As a matter of fact, people who are always seeking after the extraordinary, often miss the truly extraordinary often occurring in the midst of the ordinary. Additionally, if we miss the signs already all around us, we will certainly miss the miraculous.
“But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and has a threatening look.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but cannot interpret the signs of the times? An evil and [morally] unfaithful generation craves a [miraculous] sign; but no sign will be given to it, except the sign of [the prophet] Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.”
Matthew 16:2-4 AMP
In the above incident Jesus is not speaking against signs per se, He is saying that they (the religious leaders) already had signs all around them—specifically concerning his validity as the Messiah—which they were ignoring. So—given that they were ignoring those signs—He said that they would receive no other sign except that of Jonah (see Matthew 12:40 for clarification).
When we left Moses yesterday he had married the daughter of Jethro and had a son with her (he subsequently had another son with her). Today we find him 40 years later (see Acts 7:30), doing what he had been doing for those 40 years: tending the flocks of Jethro.
On this day Moses is tending the flock near the Mountain of God, Mount Horeb (a.k.a. Mount Sinai). He notices that a bush is burning. Now, a bush burning in the desert would not have been an unusual site given the dryness of the area and the common occurrence of lightening in dry thunderstorms (the desert air is so dry that the precipitation evaporates before hitting the ground). What was extraordinary on this day was that this particular bush did not burn up. This gets Moses attention and he turns aside to see what would happen next. Little did Moses know that his world was about to be rocked!
It’s not wrong to enjoy the signs and wonders our precious Lord so often affords us. But we must not make the mistake of missing the truly extraordinary He often dispenses in what could have been seen as a common occurrence in just another day.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The extraordinary often appears in the ordinary.
- araratchurch
- Jun 29, 2022
- 2 min read
“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.””
Exodus 2:16-17, 21-22 NKJV
How many know that the distance between point A and point B is not necessarily an indication of how long it will take you to get from point A to point B? Let me help focus you in: how many have ever started a day with a list of things you needed to do and a plan to get it all done? You estimate that you can get it done within a certain period of time. But what you did not account for are intervening variables: things that happen along the way, things that you are called on to do, a flat tire, someone’s urgent need, a place is closed that is normally open, and so on, and so on. Everybody knows that you can’t account for what you don’t know about. But the good news is that there is One Who knows all things; and He can help you, even when unexpected events seem to have wrecked your plan. The Lord will actually provide what you need to survive the trial or test.
“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen.”
Isaiah 43:19-20 NKJV
In addition to bringing support during the “detours,” the Lord can use those things that seem to have been sent to wreck your plan, to actually work for your good.
“And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”
Romans 8:28 AMP
When we left Moses yesterday he was sitting at a well in the middle of a desert, having fled for his life from Egypt. Now, bear in mind that Moses was raised in a palace where he was treated as royalty. Now he finds himself in a desert. But we see that the Lord did not forsake him, but actually gave him the opportunity to ingratiate himself to one of the leaders of a desert tribe: the Midianites. These people knew how to live in a desert place. Now Moses would spend the next 40 years in exile in the desert with people who knew about desert survival. For what might that experience be useful?
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Lord will provide help during our “detours”.