I "caught" God as a young man. Not caught like you catch a virus. But God found me and I started to understand why he was searching for me and wanted me to know about him. I could have denied his presence. I could have pushed him away but I didn't. I am so glad because when I found him, and he found me, he changed my life. I know that he meets the darkness in me with his light. He moves me to love, whereas the things of this world can easily move me to hate. God the ever living, ever loving creator of the world, wants to be in relationship with me and also seeks you just as avidly.
I am praying this morning, as you read this for the gift of faith for you. Just as God hovered over the waters breathing life, I ask him to breath faith into your being.
Looking back on my life I can see that certain people did this for me. I know my mother for example had carried on praying for me after I had opted out of going to church with her. In my agnostic phase she never gave up praying for me. And then there were certain chance meetings that I had with people that led to decision points. Yes there were more than one! Certain people were sent to stand in the gap between God and me. To help me get my head around what was going on.
Our life isn't just about our flesh and blood and our human desires. There is a Spiritual side to life that we sometimes ignore or push below the surface although we can readily believe in spiritual evil we are less ready to believe in good.
One of the very first people to have an encounter was a shepherd called Moses. He had a very clear encounter with God. Not many of us will have experiences like that. But we can have our own small encounters with God which can be just as convincing. Times when we feel the presence of God.
Moses is a biblical hero but he didn't start out that way. In fact if you read his life story you discover he is was a murderer. Someone who did something very wrong before he encountered God and managed to get his life back.
When Moses meets God it is one of the first occasions that we know of where God speaks directly to a man. As I said Moses at the time is living as a Shepherd. A shepherd's life is very solitary and a lot of time is spent watching the sheep, and the weather, and the countryside. A life of contemplation almost.
One day Moses sees a burning bush. It's a strange fire because it is not consuming the bush.
He hears God calling to him from within the bush, saying"Moses! Moses!"So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “ I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord , the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
(Read the full biblical text here if you wish)
For reflection:
What kind of God would want to intervene in Moses life?
What do you make of God's statement "I am who I am?"
Prayer
Dear God, increase the gift of faith within me. I pray that in your own way you may be present in my life to bless me and also my family. Amen
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