A Test

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:1-4 NRSV)

Curious, I did a bit of research to find out how long before wood begins to burn. I found out that it’s between 5 and 15 minutes. I’m guessing then that it must’ve taken Moses from 5 to 15 minutes before he realized that this bush was no ordinary bush.

We are not privy to the type of bush, it may have been dry since “Horeb” means “dry place” and according to Exodus 17:6, that’s where Moses hit the rock to get water. So, it could have been that it wasn’t unusual, in this area, to see bushes burning. It’s clear that this one was strange though, as the fire was not consuming it.

Moses was probably looking at this oddity for quite a while before he realized that even though it was ablaze this dry bush wasn’t burning up. And he literally “turned aside” to take a closer look.

Oftentimes God will use the most curious of situations to test our readiness for an assignment.

I recall that someone near and dear to me had to jump in her car and drive to a particular location at the same time every day for weeks; it was a test of her obedience. Will you be obedient even though everyone thinks you’re crazy?

I am sure that some of you can relate.

And that’s how it was with Moses, as miraculous as this was, it was also a test.

Could God use Moses for the assignment at hand? An assignment that would require Moses to look closely at things, to pay attention to detail, to follow God's instructions to the letter.

Did you notice that it was only when Moses decided to take a closer look, that God called out to him?

What might have been the outcome had Moses not gone in for a closer look? Suppose Moses had the attention span of a puppy, about to head towards this burning bush, hear a sheep bleat and immediately turn away, running off in the direction of the sheep, distracted?

Like a puppy, we are sometimes so distracted that we miss the opportunity to be used by God. We start off paying attention to what is before us, then get distracted by this and that and fail the test.

Of course, there is much more to this burning bush curiosity that we can delve into but meditate on this aspect of it for now, remembering, as you go along your way, to pay attention to the unusual for it just might be God showing up in the middle of your test.

Amen!

Shelley Johnson "A Test" © January 18, 2025