Ablaze: What Am I Missing?

Pastor Ron Burcham

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This past week, I went out of town for just a couple of days. So I was doing the usual packing things, and you've probably been there. You're packing your suitcase and yet you just know you're forgetting something. You can't figure out what it is. You can't put your finger on it. You're looking in the suitcase, and you stare at it. You go through the list in your mind. “I got the socks, the underwear, the bathroom stuff, pants, okay. I can't think of what it is.” I must have stood there for 10 minutes. “Think, think, think, think. Oh well, could be nothing.” Zipped up the suitcase, throw it in the truck, off on the road I go. Ten minutes later, I think to myself, “There is something missing from that suitcase. I didn't put everything in it, but what is it? Ah, probably nothing. Forget about it.”

So I go off down the road, have my day, come into my hotel room that night. “I still think there's something missing. Nah, it's probably nothing.” So I unpack my bags. Getting ready to go to bed that night. Aha. I figured out what it was. Charger for my cell phone. It's not easy for me to go without my cell phone. My family thinks it's surgically implanted in me. So that meant, by the next day, about midday, the battery went dead and it meant I had no phone for the rest of the time I was gone. On a side note, it was kind of nice for a change actually.

Don't you hate that feeling, though? Where you know you're missing something but you can't quite put your finger on it. You don't think about it all the time. You don't think about it everyday, but you know there's something not quite right. Could you imagine going through most of your life feeling that way? Most of your life, a nagging feeling that's saying, “There's something I'm missing. There's something not quite right with my life and I can't quite put my finger on it.”

I believe a careful reading of the book of Exodus would reveal Moses felt that way for most of his life. Moses couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt he was missing something. Now this morning we picked it up in Chapter 3, but we really should go back and take a look at Moses' life. He was born at a rather unique time. He was born into the nation of Israel where he was a Hebrew. But at this particular point in time, the Hebrews were enslaved by the Egyptians. They kind of had a fallout after Joseph. Things went from bad to worse and ended up, back in those days, you enslaved other countries. So they enslaved the people, the Hebrews, and the Egyptians are watching over them. And then the Egyptians noticed something. They noticed these Hebrews just keep having kids. They're having a whole mess of kids out there and, if they keep this up, they're going to outnumber us pretty soon. So, at the time when Moses was born, it went from bad to worse. Because the Egyptians came up with a plan to make sure the Hebrews didn't outnumber them. It wasn't a good plan. In fact, it was a rather evil plan and sick plan but it was a plan nonetheless. The plan was every male child that was born into a Hebrew family was to be tossed into the Nile . You can imagine how that went over with the Hebrews at the time. I'm sure they didn't do it voluntarily. I'm sure, though, the Egyptians enforced that sick, cruel law of tossing all of their sons into the Nile .

It's at this point Moses is born. Understandably, Moses' mother and father are not going to toss him into the Nile . So they hide Moses for awhile. But, you know, you can only hide a baby for so long. So Moses' mother comes up with a plan. Her plan is rather clever. She puts Moses in a basket, sends him down the Nile river, timing it perfectly so he washes up on the shore at the same time the Pharaoh's daughter comes down for her bath. Now what she's banking on is the motherly instinct will kick in for Pharaoh's daughter and she'll take the child in. Plan worked. That means Moses is raised in the Pharaoh's palace.

Knowing that, then how could it be Moses felt he was missing something? After all, what could be missing in his life? He has wealth. He has power. Anything he wants, all he has to do is ask for it. This is the Pharaoh's palace, after all. And yet, if you carefully read through Exodus, you feel there is some restlessness about Moses. He hasn't quite put his finger on it, but he knows there's something else out there. There has to be something more to his life. So it records for us that Moses goes out one day and he's going to go out among his people, the Hebrews. Now Moses knew he was a Hebrew. So he goes out among his people, and he sees an Egyptian slave master beating the snot out of one of the Hebrew slaves, okay? And so Moses says, “That's it. That's what I've been missing. I am going to defend my people. I am in a position to stand up for them.” He jumps down out of his chariot, goes over and tries to break up the mess, and ends up killing the Egyptian. Not good. But he hides the body.

You know, I'm sure Moses had some remorse over that, but I also think he had to sort of contemplate to himself, “You know, by now, word should be spreading among the Hebrews. I'm probably a hero out there. ‘Yeah, Moses up in the palace, he stood up for us. Moses didn't let that slave master beat me up.'” So he's thinking to himself, “I found my spot. I'm the hero to the Hebrews.” So he goes out the next day. Now I can imagine at least he sort of puffs out his chest and walks among his loyal subjects as they pay homage to them for his graciousness in defending them. He sees two Hebrews fighting with each other, so he walks up to them and says, “Brothers now, what's all this fighting about? Don't fight among yourselves.” Now this isn't a literal translation but, basically, this is what they said to Moses. “Yeah, who died and made you king? You going to kill us like you killed the Egyptian?”

Moses' world falls apart. He's not a hero to them. They don't respect him. This isn't his lot in life. This isn't what he's been missing in his life. It goes from bad to worse because, all of a sudden, the Pharaoh finds out he killed one of his slave masters. Well, Grandpa's not real happy right now with Moses, which means Moses is going to have to flee for his life. He loses everything, all of his wealth, all of his power, all of that is gone.

He heads out into the desert. Life is going bad for Moses. Then he runs into a clan, Jethro and his family. So he comes along. Jethro and his seven daughters. Life is getting better for Moses at this point I would guess. So things come together again for Moses. He marries one of the daughters and starts raising a family. For forty years, he raises a family. Now you would ask yourself, “What's missing in the man's life? He's with distant relatives. He has a family. He has his flock of sheep. Life should be good for him.” And yet, in Chapter 3, it says Moses goes to the far side of the desert, to the base of Mount Horeb , but why did he go there? There was no need for him to go there. Plenty of grazing around where he was. Moses is still searching. He's still looking. There's something just missing in his life. He doesn't think about it every day, but it's still nagging at him. “Life has to mean more than this.”

Have you been there? Have you been there wondering, saying, “There has to be more to life than where I am right now.” You just have this nagging feeling you're missing something. You don't think about it every day. You don't even think about it every week, but maybe it's at those quiet moments when the kids are in bed or maybe it's when you're off on a business trip and you have nothing else to do besides look at the windshield and stare out at Interstate 80 and you just start thinking, “I'm missing something, but I can't put my finger on it.”

Moses was missing something. So God appears to him in a fiery bush, but yet the bush isn't consumed. And He calls Moses over. He calls him over and He reveals to Moses the only way he can find what's missing in his life is through a relationship with Him.

This morning, it's my prayer God has called you here. It's probably not through a burning bush. Maybe it was through an invitation. Maybe it's for family. Whatever the reason may be. Maybe you just felt you needed to be here today. It's my prayer God called you here to reveal to you that what's missing in your life can only be found in a relationship with God. Because God offers to us something that can be found in no one else. God meets our most basic needs, not the physical needs we have but the most basic needs we have as the human beings He created us to be. We have a need to know we are significant in some way, that our life matters, that there's a point to it. We have a need to know we're loved and loved unconditionally. And we have a need to know we're safe, we're secure, and we can have a confidence about ourselves. And only God can fully meet those three needs.

Every person wants to know they're significant in some way. What I mean by that is their life matters. It counts for something. There's point to it. There's a purpose. People are concerned and need to know why they exist. They don't just occupy time and space but people care they're there. They don't feel like they're alone in the world. You know, some of the loneliest people are the most popular people. They're surrounded by all kinds of crowds but yet they feel all alone. It's easy to feel insignificant. It's easy to feel your life really doesn't matter. Oh sure, you're productive and you do things and people count on you but as far as having a purpose or a point, as far as making a difference, it's pretty easy to get cynical about the whole thing. It's pretty easy to get cynical and say, “You know, in all reality, yeah, my family counts on me but really I'm just a source of income. I go to work. I bring home the check. As long as the mortgage is paid, there are groceries on the table, am I really noticed for anything else?” It's easy to feel you could easily be replaced by a good housekeeper, someone who came in and did all the stuff. Because it seems to you the only time anyone notices you is when the laundry isn't done, when dinner's not on the table, and they can't find the right pair of socks.

It's easy to feel insignificant. God says you're significant. God says you're very significant and He has a purpose and a point to your life. Moses had been searching for most of his life, so God calls out to him, “Moses, come over here.” Do you notice He called him by name? He didn't say, “Hey, you, come over here and take off your sandals. You're on holy ground.” He says, “Moses, I know you.” In fact, God knows Moses better than Moses knows himself. In fact, God was there at the very beginning. Since his conception, God had been shaping and molding Moses for this very moment in time. God knows Moses and He says to Moses, “You are significant, and there is a purpose to your life. And I'm sending you back to rescue my people. All of history will be changed, Moses, because of you.”

God knows your name. He knows each one of you individually. He knows your name, and He knows more about you than you know about yourself. Psalm 139 says God was there when you were shaped and formed in the womb and He was there right along side shaping and forming you to be the person you are today. Scripture says God calls each of us by name. Scripture often uses the analogy of a shepherd and sheep, God is the shepherd and we're His sheep. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd and a good shepherd knows the name of all his sheep.” Jesus also said, “Your Father in heaven even knows the number of hairs on your head.” That's how well God knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself. And God says He has plans for you, plans to prosper you, plans to accomplish things through you.

There is a point and a purpose to your life. God says you are significant. In fact, God says you are so significant that He's willing to do anything and everything for you. Jesus again says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” You are so important, so significant to God that Jesus was willing to lay down His life for you. He was willing to sacrifice His life so your sins could be forgiven, waive that burden, and that sin could be removed so you could be the people God designed you to be, that God wants you to be.

God wanted to guarantee you could spend an eternity with Him. That's how important you are. That's how significant you are. And that's how much God loves you, which is the second basic need we have. Every person needs to know they're loved. And, more importantly, that they're loved unconditionally. Unconditional love is different. Unconditional love is pretty hard. It's pretty easy right now. Holding that little baby and she's looking so cute and wonderful. It's easy to love her right now. It's more of a challenge at 3:00 in the morning when she's screaming, isn't it? Yeah. It would be even more of a challenge about 17 years from now when you get a phone call at 3:00 in the morning. Then it's a real challenge to love them.

Unconditional love says you're loved no matter what, no matter what the circumstances are. Unconditional loves says, “Even if you don't love me, I love you.” No matter what you've done or what you will do, unconditional love says I love you. That's the kind of love God has for His people.

He says to Moses, “I have seen the plight of my people. I have seen the oppression of those in Egypt .” He says, “I have come down to rescue them.” God says, “I love my people and I'm calling my people back to me.” If you were to read through the Old Testament, it's an unbelievable love God has for His so-called people. Because God's so-called people turn their back on God. They run after false gods. They grumble. They complain. They curse God at times. And yet, the one consistent theme you'll see is God's love. God continues to love His people, and He continues to call His people back. No matter how far off they may wander, God still calls them back. That's the kind of love God has for you. It's an unconditional love.

There's a good chance this morning some of you are thinking you've wandered off too far. You think you've done something so heinous that God couldn't love you. God's calling you back. God says He loves you no matter what. Even if you don't love Him, He loves you. There's nothing that you do or will do that can stop God from loving you. That's His unconditional love for you and that gives us a great sense of security, a great sense of confidence, that God would love us that much. That means God is always going to be there for us. Because the third basic need we have is a sense of security, to have some confidence in this life that says I'm going to make it. It's going to be okay. Even if it gets rough, even if it gets nasty, I'm going to make it. I have this sense, this confidence, this security I need to know. God gives us that. Because God says no matter where you strike, no matter what situations you get into, He's going to be there. No one wants to face life alone. There are too many valleys, too many rough spots, too many challenges. God says you don't have to. He says I'm going to be there with you.

Can you believe what He asks Moses to do? He says to Moses, now after 40 years, go back to Egypt . “Go back where? I'm a murderer back in Egypt ,” he wants to say to God. “The people back there already rejected me one time. Why would I go back now a second time?” The last place on earth Moses wants to go is back to Egypt . Could anyone blame him for bantering back and forth with God, arguing with God that he really isn't the man to go? “Who am I, God, that I should go back to Egypt ?” God's answer to that is, “I am with you.” God says, “No matter what the challenges might be, Moses, I'm there. When you go before Pharaoh, I'm with you. When you go before the people, I'm with you. When you lead the people out of Egypt , I'm with you. When you hit the Red Sea , I'm with you.” And time and time again, God proved the point that God was with Moses all the way.

God says He is with you. He is with you during the good times and, most importantly, He is there during the challenging times. No matter what life throws at you, whether it's family issues, relationship issues, financial issues, emotional issues, physical and medical issues, God says, “I'm with you.” And God gives us a promise He will never allow more to happen to us than what we can handle. That doesn't mean it's pleasant. It doesn't mean it's easy but what God gives us is the security and the confidence and the hope to know God won't let it go too far. God is going to be there with us. Because that's the number one question everyone always has when something terrible happens. “Am I going to make it?” I've been there with families, with families when they found out the young father died. I've been there when they found out the job has been lost. I've been there when they hear the word cancer. Each one of them asked the same question. “I don't know how I'm going to make it through this.” God says you will, because God says, “I am with you.” God gives us that security, that confidence.

It's only through our relationship with God that we can find what we're missing. God called to Moses from the fiery bush. He revealed to Moses that what was missing in his life could only be found in a relationship with God. That relationship was rekindled, and the fire of God's love became burning in Moses' heart until the day he went to heaven. It kept burning brighter and brighter and brighter.

I pray God is calling to you this morning. He's showing you, through your relationship with Him, you'll find what's missing. He rekindles the fire of faith in your heart, and the love of God starts burning brighter and brighter in your hearts. Because God says you're significant, and God says He loves you. And God says He is always with you. Amen.