The Bush That Burned and Wouldn't Burn Up

Moses had been gone a long, long time.

Once, he had lived in a palace. Now he kept somebody else's sheep, far out on the back side of a wide and dusty wilderness. Day after day, the same hills, the same slow wind over the grass.

Moses thought he was finished. Long before, when he was a prince in Pharaoh's palace, he had tried to rescue his people his own way, and it had all gone wrong, and he had run away. Now he was just a shepherd. He felt like nobody at all.

But God had not forgotten him. And God had not forgotten Moses' people, far away in Egypt, crying under heavy loads, aching for someone to come.

One ordinary day, Moses saw a strange thing.

A bush was on fire.

But it did not burn up.

The flames danced and danced, and the little branches stayed green, and nothing turned to ash. Moses came closer to look. And out of the fire, a voice called his name. "Moses. Moses."

"Here I am," he said.

"Take off your shoes," said the voice. "This is holy ground." And Moses hid his face, because he knew. This was God. God had come down. God had come close.

"I have seen my people hurting," God said. "I have heard them cry. I know their sorrow. And I am coming down to rescue them. I am bringing them home. And I am sending you."

Moses did not feel ready. Not even a little.

"Who am I?" he whispered. "I'm nobody. I can't do this. I'm not enough."

God's answer was better than any list of Moses' good points.

"I will be with you."

Moses still felt small. "But who shall I say sent me? What is your name?"

And God gave Moses his name. The deepest name of all. A name like that bush in the fire: burning, and never, ever used up. The name that does not run out, and does not grow old, and never ends.

"I AM," said God. "Tell them I AM has sent you."

I AM. The One who simply is. The One who was there before the hills, and would be there long after. The One who would never run dry, never burn up, never leave.

So Moses went, not because he was enough, but because I AM was with him.

And hidden in that fire on the mountain was a wonderful secret. One day, far down the years, I AM would not stay in a bush on a hill. He would come and walk our own dusty roads. He would have a face you could look at, and hands, and a voice that called people by name. And he would say, "I am the Good Shepherd." The shepherd who felt like nobody would meet the Shepherd who is everything, come close, come to rescue, come to gather every last one of his children and carry them home.

But first, Moses had a long walk ahead of him. He picked up his plain wooden staff and turned his face toward Egypt, toward Pharaoh, toward his hurting people. And the fire that would not go out went with him. Though Moses did not know it yet, the hard part was only beginning.