Moses at the Burning Bush: God Calls You by Name

Moses at the Burning Bush: God Calls You by Name

There are passages in the Bible that never stop reaching us, no matter our age or where we are in life. Moses's encounter with the God of the burning bush, in Exodus 3, is one of them. An old shepherd of 80, alone in the desert, notices a flame that does not consume the bush. And right there, everything changes. God calls him by name, entrusts him with a mission, and reveals himself under a name that will run through all of Scripture: "I Am."

This Sunday, we opened the text of Exodus 3:1-14 to let God speak to us through this scene. And what we discover isn't only the story of Moses: it's also the story of how God looks at you, calls you, and walks with you, you, today.

Article outline

1. The context: Moses, 500 years after Abraham, 1500 years before Jesus
2. God looks at you long before you look at him
3. God calls you by name: "Moses, Moses"
4. God entrusts you with a concrete mission, starting now
5. "I Am": the God who stays with you

1. The context: Moses, 500 years after Abraham, 1500 years before Jesus

To place Moses in time, a small landmark helps. Today, we live about 2000 years after the cross of Jesus. 2000 years before Jesus is the time of Abraham. 1000 years before Jesus is David. And in between, at 1500 years before Jesus, we find Moses. One generation after Joseph, Abraham's grandson, the people of Israel had fled famine and settled in Egypt. But after him, for about 400 years, this people were reduced to slavery.

Five years, ten years, a hundred years of suffering, that's already hard enough to imagine. Three hundred, four hundred years is staggering. And yet the people held on, because deep in their soul burned faith in the Creator God, the true God, the God who does not forget his promises.

It's into this people that Moses is born. Pharaoh had ordered every newborn Hebrew boy to be killed. His mother hid him for three months, then placed him in a basket on the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter took him in. Moses grew up for 40 years at the Egyptian court, then fled after a violent incident. He spent the next 40 years as a shepherd in the desert of Midian, with his father-in-law Jethro.

When Exodus 3 opens, Moses is 80 years old. That's no longer the age to start great projects. It's more the age when you start looking toward the end. And that is precisely where God stops him, at the foot of Mount Horeb.

2. God looks at you long before you look at him

Let's read verses 3 and 4 closely:

"Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.' When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'" (Exodus 3:3-4, ESV)

Notice the order of things carefully. Moses notices the bush, comes closer, wants to examine this wonder. But before Moses even turns his eyes toward the bush, the text says that the LORD saw him turn aside. In other words, well before Moses set his eyes on God, God had already set his eyes on Moses.

That means something very concrete for you. Since your birth, through every stage of your life, the trials, the flights, the silences, the 40 years spent in the desert of your own questions, God, for his part, has never taken his eyes off you. He hasn't lost sight of you. He hasn't forgotten you.

And this point matters. There may be moments in your life, in suffering or exhaustion, when you feel like you've lost sight of Jesus. But the reverse never happens. The Lord doesn't lose you, he doesn't abandon you. Whatever your age, whatever you think you've missed: God is watching you, and he keeps speaking.

3. God calls you by name: "Moses, Moses"

Verse 4 continues: "God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!'" This doubling of the name is not accidental. In the Bible, when God repeats someone's name twice, it's a sign of a decisive moment, an important mission about to be entrusted to them.

We see this with Abraham, in the account of the sacrifice of Isaac. As he raises the knife over his son, the angel of the LORD stops him:

"But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'" (Genesis 22:11, ESV)

We also find it with Samuel in the temple, with Peter, whom Jesus tells, "Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat" (Luke 22:31), and with Paul on the road to Damascus: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). Each time, a name spoken twice, and a life turned upside down.

Speaking someone's name, in the Bible, is a way of recognizing their existence, their dignity, their person. It's saying, "You matter." Conversely, not naming someone often means pushing them away. In my own family, my father would readily call my wife "Mariko-sensei," but he never once called me by my name or my title. A small detail, perhaps, but one that leaves a mark.

God does not do that. He calls you by name. He looks at you as someone unique. Isaiah 43:4 says, "Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you..." And a little further on: "I have called you by name, you are mine" (Isaiah 43:1).

The supreme proof of that love is not just a word or a feeling. It's the cross. The Lord loved us that much: he died in our place, he rose again on the third day, and he now lives in us through his Spirit. That is how much your name matters to him.

4. God entrusts you with a concrete mission, starting now

Looking and calling are not enough. God sends. Let's listen to verses 7 through 10:

"Then the LORD said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey... Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.'" (Exodus 3:7-10, ESV)

"Come, I will send you." Not in three years. Not once you're ready. Not once you've found your strength, your certainty, or your courage again. Now.

This mission is not reserved for Moses. Each of us, wherever we live (in our family, our neighborhood, our workplace, our school, our church), has been given a task to carry out. Ephesians 2:8-10 puts it very clearly:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV)

Look at verse 10: the phrase "good works" comes up three times. Three times. And above all, this little sentence that changes everything: "we are his workmanship." In other words, in addition to the first name your parents gave you, you have carried another title all along: God's masterpiece.

It doesn't matter whether you're famous or unknown, rich in talents or seemingly lacking everything. A believer who can't "do anything" extraordinary but who prays for their family, for their neighbor, for a friend, for their neighborhood, is already carrying out an immense work. Gathering for worship, singing praises to the Lord, encouraging a brother or sister: these are works prepared beforehand, and they carry weight before God.

One day, Scripture says, the Lord will tell us, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We might answer, "Lord, I haven't done much, I've mostly failed." But he will show us the marks on his hands and side, and say, "That day you prayed, that day you sang, that day you were there, I was able to answer and work through you."

5. "I Am": the God who stays with you

Let's return to verse 14. Moses asks God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" And God answers:

"I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:14, ESV)

"I Am." A name God gives himself. A name with no past and no future: only the absolute present.

One detail in the text deserves your attention. In verse 2, it isn't "the LORD" who appears in the bush, but "the angel of the LORD." A contradiction? No. Christian tradition, drawing on this passage alongside many others, has seen in it a manifestation of Christ before his incarnation. We find this same "figure" elsewhere in the Old Testament:

• In Genesis 18, three men visit Abraham at Mamre. One of them stays with him to speak of the promised son, while the other two go down toward Sodom (Genesis 19:1). This third "visitor," who converses personally with Abraham, is traditionally read as the pre-incarnate Christ.
• In Daniel 3, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see not three, but four men walking in the fire, and the fourth "is like a son of the gods" (Daniel 3:25).

In other words, the "I Am" of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the Gospels are one and the same Lord. Jesus himself declared it:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58, ESV)

Before Abraham. Before creation. Today still. And until the new heavens and the new earth are established. The "I Am" is eternally present. And since the resurrection and Pentecost, he dwells in you through the Holy Spirit, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:9-11.

Which simply means: you are not alone. Even in the moments when you lose sight of God, he does not lose sight of you. And often, it's precisely in those moments that he is closest, just as he was for Moses when Moses expected nothing at all.

Key takeaways

• God looks at you before you look at him. Your relationship with him didn't begin the day you noticed him, but the day he thought of you.
• God calls you by name. You matter to him, personally. It's not a mass he saves, it's people.
• There is no age limit for the mission. Moses starts at 80. Your prayer, your presence, your service, wherever you live, are works prepared beforehand.
• You carry the name "God's masterpiece." This identity is sturdier than your failures, your talents, or your reputation.
• The "I Am" dwells in you through the Spirit. You are never alone.

Personal application

1. At what point in my life have I felt that God had "lost sight" of me? How does this passage change the way I reread that time?
2. Do I really believe that God calls me personally, or do I hide behind "he calls others, not me"?
3. What is the concrete mission God has prepared for me this week, in my family, my work, my church, my neighborhood?
4. Do I tend to measure my worth by my performance? How does the idea of being "God's masterpiece" challenge that reflex?
5. How can I nurture, this week, a real awareness that the Holy Spirit lives in me?

Verses cited

• Exodus 3:1-14
• Genesis 22:11
• Genesis 18:1-2
• Daniel 3:25
• Isaiah 43:1-4
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Romans 8:9-11
• John 8:58

FAQ

Why does God wait until Moses is 80 to call him?
The text doesn't give a direct explanation, but it shows that God's timing isn't ours. The 40 years spent at the Egyptian court and the 40 years spent in the desert of Midian were not wasted: they shaped the Moses who would be able to lead Israel. The mission doesn't depend on age, but on the faithfulness of the God who calls.

Who is "the angel of the LORD" who appears in the bush?
In verse 2, it is "the angel of the LORD" who appears, but by verse 4, it is "the LORD" himself who speaks. Christian tradition, connecting this passage with Genesis 18, Daniel 3, and John 8:58, sees in it a manifestation of Christ before his incarnation. It's the same Lord who would later take on flesh in Bethlehem.

What difference does it make for me that God calls himself "I Am"?
It means he isn't a memory of the past or merely a hope for the future. He is present, now, with you. Wherever you are, in whatever you're going through, he is already there. And through the Holy Spirit, this "I Am" dwells personally in every believer.