See.

[This is my sermon for Thursday October 28th. At the end, the students will be given time to mull around the room and look at questions posted on the walls (and floors and ceilings?) and to wrestle with the burning bush God has placed in their hearts.]

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. As a little girl she was allowed to cook and clean inside the house and even to play with the young daughter of the couple who owned her. But all of her family worked out in the field. When she was a teenager, she was sent to a store to buy some groceries. Another slave tried to steal something, and the shopkeeper picked up the heaviest item he could find and threw it at him. He missed, and hit Harriet in the head.

She was only a slave, so they didn't bother with medical treatment. They sent her home and let her rest for two days before forcing her back to work.

That head injury saved her life.

After the trauma, she began to have visions and to hear the voice of God. Now, some might say she was crazy - but the things God was saying to her were right. They were godly things to say. She began to follow God and tried to serve God with all of her life.

She escaped to freedom as a young adult. But God kept talking to her, and urged her to return to save others. She made more than a dozen trips and rescued more than 70 people. She risked her life on a daily basis to save her people from slavery. She began fighting publicly for better laws - and eventually saw all of her people freed from slavery. For this she became known as "Moses."

When we think of Moses we immediately think of the Godly man who parted the red sea and led the Israelites to safety. We tend to see the story of Moses as a nice children's book. We see the pretty picture of Moses floating in a cute basket, we see Moses as a young man in Pharoah's house and then out on his own in the desert where he sees a burning bush. But this is not a children's story. In order to understand that we need to view his story in some context.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. He created Adam and Eve and he was with them. He spoke to them and shared life with them; and this was very normal for Adam and Eve. They knew the God who had created them - and they knew him as a friend, a father, and a confidant.

But within only a few generations God was a distant concept. God was still active in the lives of His people, But His people weren't so sure. They were slaves in a foreign land and Pharaoh was tired of having more Jewish people than egyptians in his city. So Pharaoh ordered that every male Jewish child be killed.

And it is out of this situation that we find the story of Moses. Moses is hid in a basket and is found by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses was put in the basket because a probable death is better than a certain death. After being found by Pharoah's daughter he is raised as a spoiled brat in the ruling family of Egypt. While his birth mother is involved in his life, he is raised in a culturally and religiosly Egyptian setting. Moses believed in the sun god and the moon god who fought for control and in Amun-Ra and Anubis. Moses did not know or believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If Moses was religious his allegiance was to Ibis and not to Yahwe.

Moses was not in the desert because he needed a change of scenery. Moses was in the desert because he was a fugitive. He murdered an Egyptian. He didn't leave out of a sense of shame or a guilty conscience - he left because he was scared of getting caught. He married a woman of a different religion and probably never told her about his sordid past.

We're doing a sermon on dating later this year and I'll give you a preview - Girls, If your boyfriend is of a different religion or has ever killed someone you should probably stop dating him. Guys, if you're dating your girlfriend to move past that one time you killed a guy - you should probably have a nice long talk with David.

Apparently Zipporah missed that week of Pilgrims. Moses is in the desert that day for a number of reasons.

And God appears in a burning bush. Moses doesn't see God at first. Moses sees a small brush fire - then he notices that the bush is not being consumed; then he hears the voice of God.

This is an area of the Bible that isn't very clear. No one has ever seen God. Adam and Eve spoke with God all the time. Different people have interacted with "an angel of the Lord," but in this moment - in this burning bush; God shows up. God says, "Hey, it's me. I created you. I love you. I have a plan for you."

Now, God does not appear to a wanted fugitive in the desert in the form of a burning bush to ask for a cup of sugar or a light for his cigarette. God shows up with big plans and a big vision for this murderer turned shepherd.

Go back and change the world.

Do you know what really bugs me about this story?

Moses didn't deserve a burning bush. Moses wasn't even a good person, let alone a great follower of God. I've been a practicing Christian for more than a decade and I've never seen a burning bush. Billy Graham never saw a burning bush, Mother Teresa, the Pope, and David Goran have never seen burning bushes. But this murderer from a different religion was somehow worthy of a burning bush?

Where's my burning bush? Where's my instantly obvious proof that God is real and wants to be present in my life?

I really struggle with this idea. Honestly.

I'm human - and because I'm human I want proof that the things I believe are real. I want to know that God is real and that God has a plan for my life.


And this is the desire that burns in all of us. We want to know if God is real. We want to know if God really loves us; if God really has a plan for us. This is the burning bush that God has placed in our lives. When you are standing in the wilderness - you better believe that God has a burning bush for you. Look into your heart and know that the big questions are a gift from God.

"Is God real?"
"Do I need to go to church?"
Is Jesus worth the effort?"
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"

Some people believe that these big questions are a sign of doubt and should be avoided. I believe the opposite. I believe that these questions are the burning bush that God has put in our lives. The big questions are big for a reason. Our God is big; and our God has given us these questions.

Everyone has this deep desire to know God. We want to see God at work in our lives. I want you to know that these big questions we face are proof that God is real and loves us.

This week I want us to show special attention to these big questions. I want us to approach the burning bush, to take off our shoes in awe of the God who gave us hearts and minds that question, and to focus on the questions we have about God.

What would have happened if Moses had seen the burning bush, and then ran and hid because it was scary? Perhaps Moses was the 20th or 30th person that God had appeared to in this way - but he was the only one brave enough to approach. If we want to see God, we must have the courage to approach God and to wrestle with the big questions he has placed in our hearts.

Around the room you will find some of these big questions posted. I want you to spend this prayer time - and hopefully some time during this week - thinking and praying about these questions. I want you to step right up to the burning bush and to ask God these questions. I want you to wrestle in your heart with these questions.

And next week we are going to talk about what seeing those answers will look like.