GPS Guide – May 14, 2019
FAITHFULNESS
Tuesday
Read: Exodus 3:1-8
1 “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ”
(NIV Exodus 3:1-8)
Study: After rashly killing an Egyptian slave master (cf. Exodus 2:11-15), Moses fled from Egypt and lived for about forty years as a refugee among the Midianites. Moses was naturally surprised when God called him, of all people, to free the Israelites after their long years of slavery. This was the first place in Scripture (but not the last) to call the Promised Land “a land of milk and honey.” The powerful phrase recalled the beauty of the newly-created garden in Genesis. Moses had escaped death twice in his life by this time—once as an infant, and again when he fled from Egypt. To go back to Egypt was, from a human point of view, to risk his life again. What qualifications did Moses have that might have led God to choose him rather than other Hebrews? Did God’s call instantly fill Moses with confidence and courage? How does this reflect the times in your life when God has called you?
Pray: God, open me to your Word. Guide me on my journey, through my personal trials and tribulations. Let your love wash over me like a river in the Promised Land. Amen.