This post is Day 9 in a series of studies about “Mountains”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.
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Mountains – Day 9
In 1 Kings 19:8 we discover the name of this mountain:- Mount Sinai in Horeb. It was where Elijah ran to, after his victory over the prophets of Baal. He was scared, and I guess the mountain of God is a good place to run to when you are scared!
Exodus 3:1-3
Now Moses was tending the flock of his father in law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.”
The Thought
In most versions of the Bible, it is not until 1 Kings 19:8 that we discover the name of this mountain:- Mount Sinai in Horeb. It was where Elijah ran to, after his victory over the prophets of Baal. He was scared, and I guess the mountain of God is a good place to run to when you are scared!
Moses, could have been scared of the fire. He was a long way from home and there was no-one nearby to help if this was the beginning of a desert fire, which it could well have been. But the text gives us no indication that Moses was afraid, just curious.
The verse tells us that the angel of The Lord appeared to Moses from the bush. And as the bush wasn’t destroyed, we can believe that the fire which caught this shepherd’s attention was actually the fire of the angel of The Lord.
In Revelation 14:18 we read of an angel who had charge of the fire, but also in the following chapter we read of the sea of glass glowing with fire (Revelation 15:2)!
Action
Think today about where or to whom you run when you are scared?
What is your reaction to seeing something strange? Do you go and look, as Moses did, or do you turn the other way, not wanting to get involved?
Read Exodus 3 and be encouraged by what happened next.