Away With Burning Bushes

by Tyler Zach

A friend once told me, "I will believe in God when God comes to me in a burning bush."

Interesting idea, huh? Doesn't that kind of make you want to pray to God and ask him to start burning bushes EVERYWHERE and start talking to people? Then the whole world would be converted and the end times would come! Right? Wrong.

Contrary to popular belief, Moses, in the Old Testament, did not start miraculously believing in God after He appeared to him in a burning bush. He already believed in God before that incident. My friend simply, but understandably, misinterpreted the story. A.W. Tozer, a well respected author and preacher, would give my friend this advice if he were here today:

"Do not seek to understand in order that you believe, but believe in order that you may understand."

Now I’m not saying that since God doesn’t show up in burning bushes, that He never reveals Himself. In fact, He HAS, DOES, and WILL ALWAYS reveal Himself to us everyday.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." - Psalms 19:1

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Paul tells us that in the end when we come face to face with God, we will be without excuse for God has revealed Himself to us clearly. Creation, our moral conscience, and Jesus Christ are a few of the ways that He has revealed Himself. Jesus Christ is the most important revelation as Colossians 1:15 states "He is the image of the invisible God."

Bottom line is this: We need to do away with our "burning bush" theories. If we look for a certain amount of proof to satisfy our finite minds, it will fail every time. Paul went over this concept in one of his letters. He reminded the Corinthians that God doesn't save people with human logic, but by His power.

"You'll remember, friends, that when I first came to you...I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did--Jesus crucified.

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate--I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it-- and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God's power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else." - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (The Message)