About the Bush: The Five Excuses of Moses: Search For Truth Bible Series
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About this ebook
Are you considering taking up fresh responsibilities in following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you finding it a daunting prospect? There's nothing unusual, or even wrong about that. In fact, it can be a healthy sign. Great heroes of the Bible like Gideon and Jeremiah - to name but two – certainly needed God's encouragement before they felt ready to be launching out on their life's work. As Brian Johnston shows, Moses, too, felt that way and explains how, just as God graciously dealt with his five excuses, he'll be as gracious with us too: 1. I'm a Nobody 2. I Don't Know 3. What Will People Think? 4.I'm Not Up to the Job! 5. You've Got the Wrong Person. Also, in a special bonus book, Brian takes a look at an area of the life of Jacob that has often been overlooked - his very last few days. Did you realize that something he did then was so important to God that it propelled Jacob into the Hebrews 11 gallery of faith? Read this little book to find out why!
Brian Johnston
Born and educated in Scotland, Brian worked as a government scientist until God called him into full-time Christian ministry on behalf of the Churches of God (www.churchesofgod.info). His voice has been heard on Search For Truth radio broadcasts for over 30 years (visit www.searchfortruth.podbean.com) during which time he has been an itinerant Bible teacher throughout the UK and Canada. His evangelical and missionary work outside the UK is primarily in Belgium and The Philippines. He is married to Rosemary, with a son and daughter.
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About the Bush - Brian Johnston
ABOUT THE BUSH: THE FIVE EXCUSES OF MOSES
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
One recollection I have from early school days is of our class giving a performance on parents’ night. We were to sing a piece called All Through the Night
. I vividly recall the headmaster introducing the piece before we performed it. He began by saying we were going to sing all through the night, then hastened to explain he didn’t mean we were going to sing all through the night, but simply that we were going to sing All Through the Night!
Perhaps it was his annual joke.
I ought not of course to be critical, especially as I am going to repeat his technique – well, almost. I’d like to introduce this book by saying that I’ll be beating about the bush in order not to beat about the bush! If you’re not familiar with the expression then allow me to explain that from ancient times, some who hunt for birds first of all set the birds to flight by beating about the bushes with sticks while others catch them in nets. Beating about the bush was literally something which led up to the main activity which was, of course, catching the birds. A speaker, therefore, who never gets to the main point of what he should be saying might be said to be beating about the bush
.
When I say I’m not going to beat about the bush in order to beat about the bush, I mean I want to get to the main point of our Bible text - but the text we’ll be examining is the one that concerns Moses and the burning bush. We’ll be trying to beat out some lessons from the surrounding verses.
Let’s turn to it and read about it now. But just before we do, let me say this about why I want to share this topic with you. Many of you who are reading this book may be considering taking up fresh responsibilities in following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And when anyone stands at the threshold of an exciting new phase of service for the Lord, it can be a bit daunting. There’s nothing unusual, or even wrong, about that. In fact, it can be a healthy sign. Great heroes of the Bible like Gideon and Jeremiah - to name but two – certainly needed God’s encouragement before they felt ready to be launching out on their life’s work.
Moses, too, felt that way. Let’s learn how God graciously dealt with him, knowing he’ll be as gracious with us, too. We’ve set the scene now, so let’s read the first three verses of Exodus chapter 3:
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said,
I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up" (Exodus 3:1-3).
You’ll notice our story is set in the wild west - the west side of the wilderness, that is. And we might say: God is the God of the wild west, for he’s the one who’s going to be calling the shots, by telling Moses what to do. But you say, wait a minute! We’ve read about the angel of the LORD, not about God. So, let’s be very clear about this - whenever in the Old Testament we read about ‘the angel of the LORD,’ on an occasion like this, these were actual manifestations of God himself, as the next verses make absolutely clear:
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said,
Moses, Moses! And he said,
Here I am. Then He said,
Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. He said also,
I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God
(Exodus 3:4-6).
Before we finish this chapter, we come back for a third short reading from Exodus chapter 3. It’s one that will bring us to the message that God had for Moses, and the mission he was giving him to perform. But - before we get there - let’s just say something to set up the structure of this book. It was a mission that Moses was very reluctant to take on, so he made no less than five excuses - and we’re going to consider them one by one in this study. We’re going to do that because these excuses are very typical of the ones that we, too, may tend to make when we’re asked to take on some duty in service for the Lord. But more of that later ...
First, in this introductory chapter, we really ought to refresh our memories all about the background to this very special meeting that Moses had with God at the burning bush. A very handy summary is found in the Book of Acts chapter 7 - words spoken by Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who said:
"... Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died ... there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home.
And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and