When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:4)
When you pray, do you sometimes feel like you’re not hearing back from God? Or that He is not answering your prayers? Or that your praying is a one-sided conversation?
Exodus 3 reveals prayer as dialogue. Here, God approaches and calls on Moses, and he responds (v. 4).
What can we learn about prayer through Moses’ encounter with God through the burning bush?
- God is committed to us even before we do anything. He sees and hears our prayers, the way he saw and heard the cry of the Israelites (vv. 7-9). God reached out to Moses through one of his angels in a burning bush. Today, God reaches out to us through Jesus Christ, through His Word. May we come to the Lord with our cries and longings as we are.
- God sends us to a place to do his will, and he’ll be with us along the way, despite any doubts we have (v. 10-12; Mt. 28:18-20). We are not alone. God is with us.
- God commits to us and sends us out to serve him (v. 12). He orders Moses to return to Egypt to release the Israelites from Pharaoh’s oppression and bring them back to the land God promised their forefathers (Gen. 50:24).
Through Moses’ example, how does God teach us how to pray? Moses approached God with reverence, removing his sandals when he was told the ground was holy. He also faithfully listened and obeyed God, safely freeing the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses’ faith foreshadowed Jesus’ sacrificial love, perfectly obeying his Father to the point of death for our sins.
When you’re distressed or confused, do you cry to God or do you first try to handle it yourself? Do you believe that God sees you and hears your cries of prayer? When God speaks to us through his Word, do you respond with joy and obedience? Or do you pray and respond on your own terms?
Brothers and sisters, let us pray for a growing prayer life with God, that we would bring our requests to him with childlike faith. May we trust in God’s ways, not just as hearers, but more importantly, as doers of his Word. May we see Jesus, our Savior in Moses’ obedience, that we may pray and live more like Jesus. Amen.