God’s salvation flows from His nature, not our performance

 

Moses and the burning bush on Mount Horeb

Moses spent 40 years tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. This was not a noble task as there is no evidence that he owned any flock, or had built an empire. He lived what we might call today a life of quiet obscurity. This was a stripping of self-reliance, a dismantling of Egyptian pride, and a preparation of character before assignment. In Egypt he was mighty in status, in Midian he became mighty in surrender. God often prepares deliverers in hidden places before public impact.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:2).

He noticed a bush that was burning with fire, but was not consumed. Fire in Scripture usually represents, God’s holiness, presence, judgment, and purification. However, the bush was burning but, it was not destroyed. This was not just a miracle, but a message.

 

The bush represented Israel, slaves in Egypt, oppressed, and afflicted, but not destroyed, because God was in their midst. Just as the bush endured the fire without being consumed, Israel endured suffering without annihilation. This aligns with the biblical pattern, that we are afflicted, but preserved, pressed, but not destroyed [2 Corinthians 4:8-9]. God does not always remove His people from fire, but He sustains them within it. Spiritually, the bush also mirrors the believer’s life, trials burn, but grace sustains. More often than not, we are tested but not consumed, disciplined but not abandoned, pressured but preserved. The sustaining factor is not our strength, it is God’s indwelling presence.

 

The difference between destruction and purification is, whether God is in the fire. The image of the burning bush, also prophetically echoes Christ. Like the bush, Christ was surrounded by the fire of judgment on behalf of the world, crowned with thorns, and bearing suffering. Yet not consumed by death. Death and the grave had no power over Him. The burning bush teaches, that God’s presence does not always remove hardship, but it guarantees preservation. When God is in your midst, fire becomes refining, not destroying, suffering becomes purposeful, not meaningless, waiting becomes preparation, not waste. Just like Moses’ hidden years in Midian, the quiet seasons may be forming your calling.

 

God calls to Moses

When the Lord saw that Moses had turned aside to look, God called to him. God waited until Moses turned aside. This teaches us, revelation follows attention. The burning bush was visible to Moses before the voice was audible. In the same way, God’s Word may be present, His presence may be near, and God’s activity may be unfolding. But transformation begins when we turn aside. Many hear Scripture, but few attend to it. God often waits for, curiosity, hunger, thirst, stillness, and intentional focus before speaking personally.

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!” (Exodus 3:4).

God calling "Moses, Moses!” was not just a call, it is affirmation. The repetition shows, intimacy, urgency, and recognition. God’s call is never generic. He speaks, not to a crowd, but to a person, not to a role, but to a name. Despite, 40 silent years, obscurity, and apparent lack of progress, God still knew his name. You rightly connect this moment with the visible self-revelation of God. The Father is unseen, dwells in unapproachable light [John 1:18; 1Timothy 6:16]. Yet Moses encountered a visible manifestation of God. God revealed Himself to Moses, through the Son, even before Bethlehem.

 

God told Moses to remove his sandals, because the ground was holy not by natur, but by Presence. This shows us that Christ is a Friend, Brother, and a Mediator. Yet He is never casual, intimacy does not cancel reverence, nearness does not remove holiness. Therefore, humility remains the doorway into encounter. Removing sandals symbolized, surrender of self, recognition of divine authority, and awareness of sacred space. One cannot step into God’s purpose, without bowing before His presence. God still speaks today, but often, He waits for us to turn aside. The burning bush moments in our lives, Scripture, conviction, and still small nudges, may remain silent until we pause and pay attention.

 

Covenant keeping God

God roots Moses’ calling not in Moses’ ability, but in His own faithfulness. God introduces Himself by covenant, not power, God did not begin by testifying of His sovereignty, He tied His identity to relationship and promise. God was reminding Moses, deliverance is not based on Israel’s worth, but it is based on God’s promise. Grace precedes rescue.  

Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God (Exodus 3:4).

The deliverance was rooted in covenant mercy. Israel had, no political leverage, military strength, nor moral superiority. Their future was secured not by merit, but by God’s character, promise, and faithfulness. God acts because He remembers His covenant, not because Israel earned intervention.

 

God’s salvation flows from His nature, not our performance. Israel’s long stay in Egypt could have looked like abandonment. But heaven was not inactive. During those centuries, God was, preserving the people, multiplying the nation, and preparing the stage for redemption. Oppression did not cancel promise, Delay did not mean denial, the covenant remained intact even when, God seemed silent, circumstances worsened, and God’s timeline often unfolds beneath visible history.

 

When Moses heard the covenant name of God, he hid his face. This was not terror of destruction, but reverence before holiness. The covenant God is, near, faithful, holy, majestic, and awe-inspiring.  Covenant does not reduce God to familiarity, it deepens reverence. Moses’ calling to deliver Israel was not, a new idea, but a continuation. God was fulfilling what He had already pledged generations earlier. Moses became, the instrument of a pre-existing promise. Therefore, God’s purposes for His people are not reactions, they are fulfillments. God remembers even when we feel forgotten, the same God who spoke of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was declaring, His promises do not expire with time. Centuries may pass, but covenant stands.

 

God’s commission to Moses

God promises, initiates, and empowers, yet chooses to involve people. God had already declared, that He had come down to deliver the Israelites, yet involved Moses by sending him to Pharaoh. Deliverance was God’s work, but Moses was God’s instrument. This reveals a consistent pattern throughout Scripture. God works through people is not merely for them. He makes us workers together with Him [2 Corinthians 6:1].

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10).

Moses’ life reveals two extremes, in Egypt he acted in confidence, strength, and personal initiative as he tried to deliver Israel by his own hand [Exodus 2:11–12]. This was self-reliance. In Midian, when God calls him, Moses responds with, “Who am I? what if they don’t believe me?, I am not eloquent.” This is no longer pride, but inadequacy. He moved from, I can to, I cannot. God does not use, self-sufficient pride, nor paralyzing insecurity. He works through, dependence. The wilderness did not destroy Moses’ ability, it purified his posture. After the wilderness experience, Moses would not go in his own strength, but in God’s authority.

 

God’s principle of partnership is relational, not mechanical. Instead of acting alone, God chooses participation. This accomplishes several things, it grows faith, builds obedience, develops character, and glorifies God through human weakness. Moses would not be the deliverer, God would be. But Moses would be the vessel. Sometimes we move through the same journey, early life → confidence in self, later life → awareness of limitation. God meets us not at our strongest, but at our most surrendered. The goal is not, self-reliance nor self-doubt, but God-reliance.

 

The revelation of God’s name to Moses

Before Moses, God revealed Himself through specific covenantal names, El Elyon (God Most High) [Genesis 14:22], El Shaddai (God Almighty) [Genesis 17:1], El Olam (Everlasting God) [Genesis 21:33], Yahweh Yireh (The LORD Will Provide) [Genesis 22:14], El Roi (God Who Sees) [Genesis 16:13], El Elohe Israel (God, the God of Israel) [Genesis 33:20], and El Bethel (God of Bethel) [Genesis 35:7]. Each name revealed an aspect of God’s character in relation to a specific situation, protection, provision, covenant faithfulness, or personal encounter.

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’(Exodus 3:14).

The Hebrew expression Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh carries rich meaning, Self-existence (aseity), Eternal presence, Unchanging nature, and Absolute independence. Unlike earlier names tied to particular experiences, this revelation speaks to God’s being. He does not merely act, He is. The everlasting, unwearied Creator [Isaiah 40:28–29]. The Father has life in Himself [John 5:26]. God is self-sufficient, self-existent, and the source of all life. The “I AM,” does not simply mean “God becomes whatever we lack” in a modern psychological sense. Rather, it means, God is eternally present, sufficient in Himself, faithful to His covenant promises, and actively present in history.

 

However, because He is, He is able to meet every need. His sufficiency flows from His self-existence. For Moses, this was crucial. He needed authority before Pharaoh, power to perform signs, patience with Israel, and endurance in leadership. “I AM” meant, the eternally present, self-existent God is with you. The name Yahweh derives from the same Hebrew root as “I AM.” It emphasizes, covenant faithfulness, personal relationship, and active presence. Moses would have recognized the covenant continuity, especially given his heritage (his mother Jochebed’s name reflects Yahweh devotion). In the Gospel of John, Jesus explicitly identifies Himself with this divine name, [John 8:24; John 8:28; John 8:58]. Before Abraham was, "I AM.” [John 13:19; John 18:4–6].

 

When Jesus said “I AM,” especially in John 8:58, His audience understood the claim, which is why they attempted to stone Him. He was identifying Himself with the God of the burning bush. "I AM WHO I AM” reveals, God’s aseity (self-existence), God’s immutability (unchanging nature), God’s eternality, God’s covenant faithfulness, and God’s sufficiency for every mission. For Moses, “I AM” meant: The One who simply IS, without limitation, is sending you. For believers today, it affirms, the same self-existent God remains present, powerful, and faithful.

 

Pharaoh was not ready to release free labor

God was not surprised by Pharaoh’s hardness, the resistance was part of the redemptive plan. Deliverance would require divine intervention. The plagues were not random disasters, they were deliberate judgments revealing Yahweh’s supremacy over Egypt’s gods and power structures. The plagues accomplished several things, demonstrated that Yahweh alone is God, judged Egypt’s oppression, broke Pharaoh’s pride, distinguished Israel from Egypt, revealed God’s glory to the nations.

But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand (Exodus 3:14).

Pharaoh’s hardened heart magnified God’s power. What seemed resistance actually became the stage for divine revelation. God also declared that Israel would not leave empty-handed. The Egyptians would give them silver, gold, and clothing [Exodus 3:21–22]. This was not theft, it was divine justice. Israel had labored for generations without wages. God ensured economic restoration.

 

The principle aligns with [Deuteronomy 15:12–14], where masters were commanded not to send freed servants away empty-handed. God practices what He commands. Redemption in Scripture is not merely spiritual, it includes, freedom from oppression, restoration of dignity, material provision, and public vindication. God did not simply rescue Israel quietly. He judged injustice and transferred wealth. This demonstrates that God’s justice addresses both suffering and loss. God’s foreknowledge that Pharaoh would resist and His justice ensured Israel was compensated. Opposition does not cancel God’s plan, hard hearts cannot stop divine purpose, and injustice will not have the final word.

George G. Ruheni, PhD.