Pastor's Reflection for 1st November

PASTOR'S REFLECTION

The burning bush and its lessons to a child of God
“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even horeb.
And the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed.
And Moses sais, I will turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses; And he said, here am I.” – Ex 3:1-4
The phenomenal story of the 120yrs of the life of Moses can be broken into three parts; He lived the first 40yrs of his life thinking that he was somebody (Ex 2:11-13); another 40yrs discovering that he was a nobody (Ex 2:14-21); and the last 40yrs, he witnessed what God can do with somebody that was a nobody (Ex 7:1; 4:17; 24:1-2; 34:28-35)
It was therefore at this second stage of his life that he encountered God at Mount Horeb and the lesson is that only at the mountain of God can encounters of great substance be possible (Oba 1:17; Gen 28:10-19). Again, until one becomes a nobody before God, and count all gain as loss for Christ, certain divine revelations and encounters may not be possible (1 Cor 1:26-29; Phil 3:7-8; Heb 11:24-27)
What did the lord use the burning bush to tell Moses? The first was the persecution and trial state of the Israelites. God practically demonstrated to Moses that although the people of Israel were going through severe fire of affliction, oppression and adversity in the hands of the Egyptians, they will not be consumed such as the bush burned with fire but could not be consumed. More importantly, the lord used that encounter to tell Moses about the future church of God – that the church and indeed every true child of God would suffer persecution, trials and oppression in the world but would not be consumed (Isa 43:2; Jhn 16:33). The devil and his co-hosts will use the fire of adversity and much more, to compel many to give up but the church shall not be consumed (Matt 16:18; Jhn 1:5) Allelluia!!
Beloved, what is happening to you now, be it affliction, oppression, suffering, troubles, delays and adversities, was indeed revealed over thousands of years ago, and cannot consume you as long as you remain in God. The nation of Israel went through it, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan3:23-30); Daniel (Dan 6:16-23), etc all did and came out stronger and better. You will surely come out of that situation with a testimony to the glory of God in Jesus name.
However, child of God, make sure that you are always at the mountain of God (a good bible teaching and believing church) and like Habakkuk, watch daily to see what He will say or show to you (Hab 2:1) and in the scriptures (word of God) and be quick to answer him when He calleth (Ex 3:4)
Look around you, there is something He has been calling your attention to, all that is required of you is “turn aside to see”. For it could be a life-challenging encounter.
Pastor K. Nzeh