Look out for the burning bush (part 1 in the "I AM" series)

Exodus 3:13,14

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

In this new blog series, we’re going to look at seven well known ’I AM’ statements of Jesus found in the book of John. These are words that Jesus said of Himself that tell us more about who He is. And of course, if we are going to be able to trust Him with all that is precious and dear to us, we need to be absolutely certain about the nature of God.  

You see, we can have good theology and all the right Biblical answers to the big questions of life, but at the end of the day, if the image of God that we hold in our hearts is wobbly or uncertain, then when push comes to shove, all the intellectual stuff is of no use whatsoever.  

When Jesus taught and healed and raised the dead - when he spoke in parables, and shared stories, he also offended a lot of people. Especially the Jewish leaders. Why? Why would He? Why did his teaching offend people?

Well, because they had fixed ideas in their heads about what God wanted and what He was like and what they thought a righteous person should do and not do. So often, Jesus was saying something altogether different and they didn’t like it. It upset their neat, black and white theology - it messed  with the way they had done things for centuries.

Jesus’ words provoked a strong reaction because the religious people of the day didn’t want to acknowledge that perhaps God was not who they thought He was. 

But what about you? Perhaps we’re not so very different?

I wonder who God is for you? 

Back in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, in the desert and from the middle of a bush on fire, that wasn’t burning up, God called Moses by his name and Moses in turn, learned that God’s name is YAHWEH - I AM.

Burning bushes show up as we keep our flocks of routine, right in the middle of life as we live it  - relationships, parenting, work, food, shopping, church, reading the news, cleaning the house, watching TV. Same old, same old and then… a bush was on fire and it caught his attention because he noticed that it wasn’t burning. Moses, out of curiosity, deliberately and intentionally walks away from the well trodden path in the direction of the burning bush, in order to take a better look.

So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up.” (Exodus 3:3)

‘Burning bushes’ are those circumstances or events that interrupt life and grab our attention. They are not part of our plans. They take us by surprise. They stop us in our tracks and hopefully, we turn aside. We may even take a second look. Sometimes we are brought up short, speechless, at a loss for words. Moses was doing the ordinary routine things of his life, the same things he had done the day before, the week before, and the month before. He’d been out with his father-in-law's flock every day, for 40 years, and I don't think he expected this day to be any different from yesterday. 

Regardless of how it comes to us, the burning bush moments shatter the illusion that life is predictable. We all live with certain expectations. Don’t we? Often our lives are reasonably well planned out and can be counted upon. We mostly know what tomorrow will bring. But at the same time, there is no absolute certainty about anything, and the last few years, especially in the political arena, this has certainly proven to be true.

God wanted Moses to tell His people, the enslaved Hebrews, that a Being with no beginning, no end, no parentage, and no ethnicity had sent him to rescue them and to lead them to freedom. He was "Existence" itself. He transcended time, space, matter and all other "gods".

In that name, Moses is given a revelation of the nature of God. You see, Moses would need to know I AM in the coming months and years - confronting Pharoah, standing at the edge of the Red Sea with one million people waiting for him to lead them safely across, and later, facing these same people, now angry and weary, demanding food, meat, water…

‘I AM’, says to us, as to Moses, I see you, I know you, I am with you. NOW. RIGHT HERE. IN THIS SITUATION.

Moses’ response to the bush that didn’t burn up, led Him to an encounter with God. Let us also choose to approach our burning bush moments with equal curiosity - with an attitude of wonder. What might God show me about Himself in this that will keep me and sustain me for the days ahead. 

I AM for Moses leading millions of people out of Egypt.   I AM for you and me in the middle of our 21st century challenges. I AM with the people we love who are struggling with health and financial issues. I AM in our unanswered prayers. I AM in busy, overwhelming work and diaries and timetables. I AM in the confusion and mystery and chaos that is life today.

You see, I AM WHO I AM is enough. I AM is all we need, and all we will ever need.