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Devotional For the Week 27th December 2004

A Voice In The Wilderness
Scriptural Text: Exodus 3:1-16

This Christmas, we may wish to ask ourselves this question, “Can we still hear God’s voice in this present time and age?”

As we turn to our Scriptural passage this week, you may wonder how Moses’ experience in Exodus 3:1-16 is related to the Christmas message? We learn the following:

God is personal. God pays attention to us. He knows us personally and intimately. In Exodus 3:4, He followed Moses’ movement and called out to him from within the bush using his specific name, "Moses! Moses!" to which Moses replied, "Here I am." Just like in Moses’ case, sometimes God allows us to be placed in the wilderness, where we are stripped bare of our own security and comfort, and this is where He speaks and we are better able to hear Him with no more distraction from self nor society.

God is purposeful. God has a key mission. He comes not only to save us but also to redeem us from our physical and spiritual wilderness. In Exodus 3:7-8, He told Moses that He was concerned about the misery of His people in Egypt, He had heard their cry and had come to rescue them and bring them to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. God’s purposes are about us.

God’s presence is with us. God said to Moses in Exodus 3:12, "I will be with you.” This is a comforting assurance that God is indeed with us at every step of our spiritual journey. Even in times of silence or difficulty, we can hold steadfast to this promise that He watches over us and will not leave nor forsake us.

God is the present. In whose name and authority was Moses going to bring the message of redemption to the Israelites that would lend him credibility? God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM … say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.' " God is not only the God of our forefathers in the past, or the God our returning King in the future, but He is very much the God of our present, the great I AM. We can still encounter Him today.

To make a connection with our exposition today, what do Christmas trees have to do with burning bushes?

We see Christmas trees all around us at Christmas – big ones lit up in the city and small ones in our homes. Yet many people, including some Christians, do not experience God beyond the sparkle and glitter of their Christmas trees.

Dear beloved, may our Christmas tree this season be like Moses’ burning bush. May we proactively tune in to God, hear His voice and experience Him. Let us be personal and seek Him by name. Let us be purposeful and avail ourselves to be on mission with our Father. Let us never depart from His Presence. Let us acknowledge the God of our present, the God of now and today. Let us not rest on the laurels of yesterday, nor wait to act only tomorrow. Today, we can have an intimate and dynamic relationship with the One who sent His Son to redeem us that first Christmas more than 2000 years ago.

- by Dr Tan See Seng

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