Moses and the Burning Bush

God's people, the Israelites, were slaves in Egypt. They worked very hard, and they cried out to God for help.

Moses had grown up in Egypt, but he had run away and now lived far off in the land of Midian. He was a shepherd, caring for the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. One day he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness, to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There an angel of God appeared to him as fire blazing inside a bush. Moses looked closely. The bush was on fire, but it wasn't burning up! Moses said to himself, I have to go see this.

When God saw Moses coming, God called to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! And Moses answered that he was listening. God told him not to come any closer, and to slip off his sandals, since this was a holy place. Then God said he was the God of Moses' family, the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had worshiped. Moses quickly covered his face, full of awe before God.

God said, I have watched my people suffering in Egypt, and I have heard them calling for help. I care about their pain. I am going to rescue them and bring them to a good land of their own. And you, Moses, will go to Pharaoh and lead my people out.

Moses said, Me? I'm nobody special. How could I face Pharaoh? God promised that he would go with Moses and stay with him.

Moses asked what God's name was, so he could tell the people. God told Moses his holy name, which means that God simply is. He always was and always will be, and he needs no one to make him. God told Moses to say that the God of their fathers had sent him, and that God's people should call on him by this name for all time.

God sees when we are hurting, and he hears our prayers.