Moses Encounters God at the Burning Bush — Exodus 3:1–22
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law in Midian when he led the sheep toward Horeb, the mountain of God.
There, Moses witnessed something extraordinary. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the middle of a bush. The bush was burning, yet it was not being consumed by the flames.
Moses was amazed by what he saw and went closer to investigate.
God then called to him from the bush, saying, “Moses, Moses!” When Moses answered, God instructed him not to come any closer and told him to remove his sandals, because he was standing on holy ground.
God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses became afraid and hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
God then revealed His purpose. He had seen the suffering of His people in Egypt, heard their cries, and knew the oppression they were experiencing.
He told Moses that He was going to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and bring them into the land of Canaan—a “land flowing with milk and honey.”
But God had a specific role for Moses.
He was being sent as God’s representative to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
Moses, however, did not feel capable of carrying out such an enormous task. He questioned his own ability and asked, essentially, “Who am I?”
God did not answer by listing Moses’ qualifications. Instead, He gave Moses the most important assurance:
“I will be with you.”
God promised that Moses would lead the Israelites out of Egypt and that they would eventually worship God at that very mountain.
“I AM WHO I AM”
Moses then asked an important question. If the Israelites asked him who had sent him, what name should he give them?
God answered:
“I AM WHO I AM.”
He instructed Moses to tell the Israelites that “I AM” had sent him.
This name revealed God’s eternal and self-existent nature. He was not merely another Egyptian deity or a powerless God of the past. He is the God who is—unchanging and always present.
Moses was then instructed to tell the elders of Israel that the God of their ancestors had heard their cries and was going to rescue them.
He was also to approach Pharaoh and tell him that the God of the Hebrews wanted His people to travel into the wilderness for three days so they could worship and offer sacrifices.
God already knew that Pharaoh would resist.
He told Moses that Pharaoh would not willingly release Israel. But God would stretch out His hand against Egypt and perform powerful wonders, ultimately demonstrating His authority and bringing His people out of slavery.
Application: Can We Still Trust God’s Promises?
One important question comes from this chapter:
Are God’s promises in the Bible still trustworthy today?
The New Testament was written nearly 2,000 years ago, while many Old Testament promises were made thousands of years earlier. So can we really depend on God’s promises after so much time has passed?
Exodus 3 gives us a powerful answer: yes.
God was calling Moses to fulfill a promise He had made centuries earlier.
In Genesis 15, God had already told Abraham that his descendants would become oppressed in a foreign land, but that God would eventually deliver them and bring them back to the land of Canaan.
Hundreds of years later, Moses stood before God at the burning bush.
The promise had not been forgotten.
God was now preparing Moses to become part of its fulfillment.
Think about the significance of that.
God’s promise to Abraham had been made roughly four centuries before Moses stood at the burning bush. Yet God had not forgotten a single word.
The delay did not mean the promise had failed.
The waiting did not mean God was absent.
The passing of generations did not make God’s word irrelevant.
God Keeps His Promises
Exodus 3 reminds us that God’s promises operate on a different timeline from ours.
We may become impatient when we do not see an answer quickly. We may wonder whether God has forgotten what He promised.
But the story of Moses shows that God’s timing does not cancel God’s promises.
What He promised generations earlier was still being carried forward.
God has never needed to revise His promises because time passed.
His promises are trustworthy today, just as they were thousands of years ago—and they will remain trustworthy for generations to come.
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