“CRUSHED BUT NOT DESTROYED”

“Digging Deeper”
An opportunity for you to continue your study of God’s Word throughout the week…

MONDAY
“CRUSHED BUT NOT DESTROYED”

EXODUS 3:3-5
Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

After 40 years of serving and learning in the courts of Pharaoh, Moses is now at the end of another 40 years of his life as a shepherd. It is worth noting that in these verses Moses is meeting God at the same mountain where God will later give him the Mosaic Law. The bush that Moses sees is on fire but is not being consumed.

Fire is often symbolic of God’s presence and is also present when God descends on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:18. However, the burning bush in these verses may also represent the nation of Israel. Israel had been crushed by bondage in Egypt but they will not be destroyed.

This was the first time God had revealed Himself to Moses, or anyone else in Scripture, for over 430 years. Later in history God will break another 400-year long period of silence when John the Baptist and Jesus appear to lead an even more significant exodus. Here God called Moses to deliver a crushed nation before they are destroyed.

Read 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.