Hi, my name is Susan and I’ve been on the Elder Team for about five years. I came to Riverside when City Chapel (a small church downtown) became blended into the fabric of Riverside. I serve at Camp Ray Bird, live with my husband Shawn (and usually another housemate! – though right now it’s just the two of us :).
The passage you are going to read today is Exodus 3 where Moses meets the Most High God in the form of a burning bush. He gets commissioned to lead God’s people, the Israelites, out of Egypt where they have been slaves for hundreds of years. When they first went to Egypt, they were welcomed by Pharaoh and given a special place to live. Joseph, all his brothers and their dad, Jacob brought everything they owned to live there.
But now, many years had passed and there were thousands of Israelites and that made the Egyptians anxious, so they made them become slaves. They were cruel to them.
The Israelites had been told from generation to generation about the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and how He would care for them. So they cried out over and over for help.
And God answers by sending Moses!
Although this can seem like a random story, it really is part of a large story that ends in the birth of Jesus. God was always pursuing the people that He had created in His image. He is pursuing them again through Moses, and asking them to follow Him to a life fulfilled in every way. If we read all of their story, we would see that they rejected God over and over and over again. But God was determined to provide access into His family to those who would have faith and believe in Him.
Finally, He sends Jesus to pursue them and offer them freedom from slavery to sin. Just like Moses led the Israelites out of their slavery, Jesus is born to offer us freedom and point us to belonging in His Kingdom.
Now, do the Know, Be, Do method of study through the chapter.
- KNOW – What does the text say about God?
- BE – What does the text say about us?
- DO – What is the text calling me to do?
- Write out the whole verse that you want to stick with you throughout the day today.