Bible Challenge Day 20: “When” (Exodus 3)

I am glad to be getting into Exodus. Important as the stories of Genesis are, the story of Exodus is the one that really stands at the heart of the entire Old Testament. And important as many Old Testament characters are, the one who stands above them all is Moses.

In the chapters for today, we are introduced to Moses, and Moses is introduced to God, “I am,” Yahweh. The scene at the burning bush is pivotal in all kinds of ways. But the thing that strikes me is the apparently unimportant word “when” (3:4). The Lord appears in a flame of fire out of a bush that miraculously does not consume the bush. Moses notices the odd sight and turns aside to look more closely. “When the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”

The Lord appeared—that itself is surely a call to Moses. But then God waits to see what Moses will do. Only when Moses takes the next step, only when Moses stops his ordinary business for a minute to open himself up to the encounter with God, only then does God call Moses by name.

This moment encapsulates the spiritual life in miniature. God is in the world all around us all the time. Unfortunately most of the time we are too distracted to notice and/or too busy to turn aside to see more closely. But when we do open ourselves up to the God who is all around us, we will hear God call our name. “God, open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us!” (BCP, 372)

Fr. Harvey