Sunday School 01: Reverence

My Sunday School class just began a study on Moses. We've come to the burning bush, the fiery fir, the sizzling shrub, the combustible cactus, the everlasting evergreen.

A couple of things that I found particularly interesting from this lesson...

The first was Moses' reaction to the burning bush. As soon as he realized that the voice coming from the bush was God, he hid his face and was afraid to look upon God. This is an interesting progression. In chapter 3, he's trembling and daring not to behold. But later he gets bold. Later he asks to see God's face, but God knows it would be too much for him and grants only that he witness the backside of his glory. 

Second is this. "We try so hard to fit God to us, and we are entirely misrepresenting him." Moses thought he knew what God expected of him. Here he is a Hebrew marked for death the moment he's born, raised in the home of the Pharaoh with all the prestige that comes with it, brought up by his mother and taught of the one true God. Had God asked him at that moment to deliver his people, I think Moses would have done so without hesitation. But that wasn't God's time. God made him low first. When God calls to him from the burning bush, he instructs Moses to not come hither, to remove his shoes for the ground on which he's standing is holy ground. He is telling Moses who He is. He is teaching him how to show reverence. 

It's easy to misrepresent God, to misunderstand who he is. We have an image in our minds of who we think God is, a God catered to we want him to be, what we think we need him to be. Maybe we've got it all wrong. It's not enough to serve a god. We need to know who He is so we can show reverence to the God.  

Five thoughts we were given from this lesson:

1. When God wants to get someone's attention, he knows how to do it.

2.When you have reverence, you give your best.

3. When you're in the presence of God you show reverence.

4. God does not forget his people.

5. When God is ready to act, he will tell us, and his timing is always right.