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. So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up’... ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground’... Exodus 3:2-5
When you read Bible passages like this do you ever feel slightly envious? Do you ever think “How come things like that never happen to me?” Do you ever wonder if you’re missing out on something because your spiritual life seems to be so - well - ordinary in comparison?
That feeling might be made even worse when you meet a fellow-Christian whose life seems to be dotted with seemingly “supernatural” experiences, even if very different from Moses’ experience at the burning bush.
It’s an exaggeration to say that such experiences are common in the Bible. But they are certainly there... Isaiah seeing the Lord “high and exalted” in the temple (Isaiah 6); John’s vision of the risen Jesus (Revelation 1); Paul being “caught up to the third heaven” and hearing “inexpressible things” (2 Corinthians 12); Gideon visited by an angel who “sat down under an oak tree in Oprah” (Judges 6). I could go on.
It’s only human to sometimes feel “I wouldn’t mind a spiritual high like that now and then! What a boost it would give to my faith!”
But wait a minute. We need to notice several things if we are to get our thinking straight.
First, these experiences were not given because the people involved went looking for them.
Go back to Moses in Exodus 3. What was he doing when he saw the burning bush? Fasting and praying, as Jesus did in the wilderness? No: he was “tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro”.
Moses is a man on the run. He has killed an Egyptian whom he found beating a fellow-Israelite. (He can’t even claim that it was an impulse killing: Exodus specifically tells us that “he looked this way and that” first.) So he runs away, marries a Midianite girl, a daughter of a priest called Jethro, and earns his keep, presumably, by helping to look after Jethro’s sheep. How ordinary, how humdrum, can you get!
Exactly the same can be said of the other examples - they were just going about their normal business when God saw fit to break into their lives in these dramatic ways.
And so the message is?... If God chooses to give you some kind of spiritual “high”, great, be thankful - and build on it. But don’t go looking for it. Remember the words of Jesus: “It’s a wicked and adulterous generation that asks for a sign” (Matthew 12:39).
Second, these experiences were not given so that the recipients could feel good about themselves.
I suspect that many of us have that sign-seeking mentality lurking deep in our hearts. Simple faith in the God we cannot see isn’t enough; we’d like a bit of proof, please, Lord - especially when we meet those people I mentioned earlier, who claim the kind of dreams and visions we have never had.
But in fact, if you read again the Bible stories I mentioned, you find that Moses, John and the rest were left feeling anything but good about themselves! No, they were left shaken and overwhelmed; they certainly didn’t emerge from these encounters with a spring in their step and an elevated sense of their own importance or spiritual virtue. (One of them, indeed, Jacob, ended up with a physical disability (Genesis 32).)
And the message?... Be careful what you hanker after! You might get more than you bargained for!
This leads directly to...
Third, these experiences were given to usher their recipients into a new sphere of service, or to bring them to a new recognition of their weakness and sinfulness.
God had a job in mind for Moses: “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).
And Moses didn’t like the sound of this one little bit! In fact, if you read through Exodus 3 and 4 you find that he thinks up a number of reasons why - “Sorry, Lord! but I’m really not up to the task”. And when he can’t think of any more excuses he ends up with the oh-so-feeble request, “Please send someone else!” (4:13). I think that by now he is bitterly regretting ever having seen that wretched bush in the first place. Oh to get back to his sheep!
The fact is that, in the Bible, supernatural experiences of this kind are generally given to people who are being prepared for a life-changing, and even world-changing, ministry. And that ministry is likely to involve great sacrifice and real pain.
So be careful! - perhaps there is something to be said for the beautiful advice of the prophet Micah: just “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
And for the rest? - leave it to God.
Father God, forgive me if ever I fall prey to a sign-seeking mentality, or get envious of the experiences of others. Help me to want nothing but to love, obey and serve you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And so bring me to that day when I will enjoy “what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”. Amen.
When you read Bible passages like this do you ever feel slightly envious? Do you ever think “How come things like that never happen to me?” Do you ever wonder if you’re missing out on something because your spiritual life seems to be so - well - ordinary in comparison?
That feeling might be made even worse when you meet a fellow-Christian whose life seems to be dotted with seemingly “supernatural” experiences, even if very different from Moses’ experience at the burning bush.
It’s an exaggeration to say that such experiences are common in the Bible. But they are certainly there... Isaiah seeing the Lord “high and exalted” in the temple (Isaiah 6); John’s vision of the risen Jesus (Revelation 1); Paul being “caught up to the third heaven” and hearing “inexpressible things” (2 Corinthians 12); Gideon visited by an angel who “sat down under an oak tree in Oprah” (Judges 6). I could go on.
It’s only human to sometimes feel “I wouldn’t mind a spiritual high like that now and then! What a boost it would give to my faith!”
But wait a minute. We need to notice several things if we are to get our thinking straight.
First, these experiences were not given because the people involved went looking for them.
Go back to Moses in Exodus 3. What was he doing when he saw the burning bush? Fasting and praying, as Jesus did in the wilderness? No: he was “tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro”.
Moses is a man on the run. He has killed an Egyptian whom he found beating a fellow-Israelite. (He can’t even claim that it was an impulse killing: Exodus specifically tells us that “he looked this way and that” first.) So he runs away, marries a Midianite girl, a daughter of a priest called Jethro, and earns his keep, presumably, by helping to look after Jethro’s sheep. How ordinary, how humdrum, can you get!
Exactly the same can be said of the other examples - they were just going about their normal business when God saw fit to break into their lives in these dramatic ways.
And so the message is?... If God chooses to give you some kind of spiritual “high”, great, be thankful - and build on it. But don’t go looking for it. Remember the words of Jesus: “It’s a wicked and adulterous generation that asks for a sign” (Matthew 12:39).
Second, these experiences were not given so that the recipients could feel good about themselves.
I suspect that many of us have that sign-seeking mentality lurking deep in our hearts. Simple faith in the God we cannot see isn’t enough; we’d like a bit of proof, please, Lord - especially when we meet those people I mentioned earlier, who claim the kind of dreams and visions we have never had.
But in fact, if you read again the Bible stories I mentioned, you find that Moses, John and the rest were left feeling anything but good about themselves! No, they were left shaken and overwhelmed; they certainly didn’t emerge from these encounters with a spring in their step and an elevated sense of their own importance or spiritual virtue. (One of them, indeed, Jacob, ended up with a physical disability (Genesis 32).)
And the message?... Be careful what you hanker after! You might get more than you bargained for!
This leads directly to...
Third, these experiences were given to usher their recipients into a new sphere of service, or to bring them to a new recognition of their weakness and sinfulness.
God had a job in mind for Moses: “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).
And Moses didn’t like the sound of this one little bit! In fact, if you read through Exodus 3 and 4 you find that he thinks up a number of reasons why - “Sorry, Lord! but I’m really not up to the task”. And when he can’t think of any more excuses he ends up with the oh-so-feeble request, “Please send someone else!” (4:13). I think that by now he is bitterly regretting ever having seen that wretched bush in the first place. Oh to get back to his sheep!
The fact is that, in the Bible, supernatural experiences of this kind are generally given to people who are being prepared for a life-changing, and even world-changing, ministry. And that ministry is likely to involve great sacrifice and real pain.
So be careful! - perhaps there is something to be said for the beautiful advice of the prophet Micah: just “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
And for the rest? - leave it to God.
Father God, forgive me if ever I fall prey to a sign-seeking mentality, or get envious of the experiences of others. Help me to want nothing but to love, obey and serve you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And so bring me to that day when I will enjoy “what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”. Amen.
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