The Burning Bush That Didn't Burn
The Burning Bush that Didn't Burn
Now anybody knows that if you run away from something very frightening, the last thing in the world you'd want to do, would be to go back to it. It would be like running away from a roaring lion - and having somebody ask you to go back and feed him your popcorn! And yet - that's what happened to Moses.
When Moses got to be a man, even though he was the son of the princess, he still loved the Hebrews, for they were his own people. And day after day, he saw them beaten and worked to death by the cruel Pharaoh's soldiers.
One day Moses tried to help one of these poor Hebrew men who was being beaten. Imagine the son of the PRINCESS helping a Hebrew SLAVE! It made the cruel Pharaoh so angry, that he was WORSE than a roaring lion - and Moses knew he would have to run away, or the Pharaoh would have him killed.
He started off into the desert all by himself - and traveled for miles and miles and MILES until he was far enough away from the cruel Pharaoh to feel safe. And there, way off in the desert, he met a shepherd family and settled down to live with them. And there, he began a brand new life.
How different it was! Instead of wearing beautiful princely clothes, he wore shepherd's clothes. Instead of wandering through palace gardens, he wandered along the grassy parts of the desert, watching sheep.
The eating was different. Instead of helping to set the table, and going out to carry water - he had servants to bring him his dinner and his snacks on gold plates.
The days went by.
The months went by.
The YEARS went by.
And Moses felt less and less like a prince - and more and more like a shepherd. As he watched his sheep under the desert sun, he thought about his own people and his old home. As he sat under the stars at night, he thought about his real mother, and remembered the stories she had told him about God.
And then it happened. The most wonderful - and the most FRIGHTENING thing!
Moses was wandering along the desert with his sheep, when he saw it. It was a bush on fire. Now there was nothing so unusual about that - except that THIS bush was all on fire, but the leaves didn't curl up and fall off - and the branches didn't turn to ashes and drop. Right in the middle of all the fire, the leaves and branches stayed green and pretty and didn't seem to mind the fire a bit!
Moses just stood and stared. And then he heard a voice.
"Moses, Moses!" It was coming from the bush!
"Here I am," said Moses, and he stared some more.
"Take off your sandals," said the voice. "For this is a holy place." And then Moses knew. He took off his sandals. It was God!
"I know how cruel Pharaoh is to the Hebrew people," said God's voice. "I want you to go back and ask Pharaoh to let them go. I want you to be their leader, and lead them out of Egypt."
Why, that was worse than facing a lion! "I-I CAN'T," said Moses. "I can't do this great thing alone!"
And the voice said, "You won't HAVE to do it alone. Certainly I will be with you!"
And then the fire was gone. The bush was still there, but the fire was gone. And Moses was alone. He was afraid and excited, all at the same time. He knew he had a great and FRIGHTENING job to do. But he knew that God would be with him!
Once you've run away from something, the hardest thing in the world to do - is to go back. But there isn't ANYTHING you can't do - if God is with you.

THINK!
Can you think of times when you've run away from something very unpleasant, and then had to go back and face it? Can you think of times when someone has asked you to do something you thought you weren't able to do? What did you do about it? Did you remember that God was with you?
A VERSE TO LEARN
"Certainly, I will be with thee" (Exodus 3:12).