So You Want A Burning Bush, Do You?

Desiring a burning bush experience is a great thing; we just need to be aware of the great demands such a desire might place upon us. The reward of being visited by God will always be tempered by the demands of being used by God. Burning bushes always end with pressing assignments. As Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” You want a burning bush? Good—get ready to be God’s chosen instrument in solving the problem that produced the visitation in the first place.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 3:4-5

When the LORD saw that Moses had gone over to look, God called to him from within the burning bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When you read this amazing story about Moses and the flaming tumbleweed from which God spoke, if you are like me, you’re probably thinking, “Man, I’d like a burning bush experience, too!” Whenever we come to places in Scripture where God or one of his holy agents literally, physically interacts with man—Jacob wrestling with God, Daniel visiting with the archangel, Peter on the mount of transfiguration, John receiving the Revelation—there is just something inside us that longs to encounter the real, living presence of Almighty God, too.

That is not a bad thing. It simply reminds us that in Adam, we were originally created to walk hand-in-hand with our Creator, enjoying an uninterrupted, unfiltered and intimate face-to-face relationship with him. We were designed for that and will continue to desire that until the day God takes us home and our faith once again becomes sight. In the meantime, perhaps, you or I may be one of those fortunate ones along the way to whom God grants a personal visitation.

But there is another side to those burning bush experiences that we need to keep in mind. You can see it here in this text—and you will find it in any of those other face-to-face encounters peppered throughout Scripture as well. First, you will notice that these revelations are preceded by great need. In this case, the people of God, Israel, were being severely abused as slaves in Egypt. They were crying out to God, and he was fixing to recruit a deliverer to deliver them. The fact of the matter is, more often than not, daunting challenges precede these Divine visitations. So you want a burning bush, you say! Can you handle the bad times that go with them?

Second, you will notice that the Divine visitation required the personal purification of the visited. God required Moses to take off his shoes—representing the soiled places literally and spiritually where Moses had trod. Special visitations of the Divine Visitor are never just so he can chat—he has arranged for that to be accomplished through everyday prayer. When he shows up, it is to reveal his special purpose—and the prerequisite for the revelation of his purpose is always clean hands and a pure heart on our part. So you want a burning bush, do you? Then get ready for the intense heat of purification.

Third, a burning bush always ends with a pressing assignment. God told Moses that he had seen and heard the misery of Israel’s slavery, which he would now do something about. (Exodus 3:7-9) And the kicker to this announcement was that Moses was going to be at the tip of the Divine spear when God dealt with Israel’s cruel Egyptian taskmasters. So you want a burning bush, too! Good—get ready to be God’s chosen instrument in solving the problem that produced the visitation in the first place.

When God appears, it is to reveal his kingdom plans, not just to make us feel good or give us a warm, fuzzy spiritual high. No, when God shows up, the encounter will fuel us for the grand kingdom assignment to which we have been assigned.

Still want a burning bush? Yeah—that’s what I thought: You still do! So do I.