Holy Ground: When Burning Bushes Don't Burn Out
Doubt often creeps in quietly, making us question God’s presence, much like mice in a piano believing in mechanics over a player. This reflection draws from Moses’ story—an exiled shepherd in a barren land—who encountered God in a burning bush. In moments of desolation, God reveals Himself, transforming ordinary places into holy ground. The burning bush unveils God's holiness, faithfulness, and compassion. Surprisingly, He uses imperfect people, like Moses—and us—for His purposes. Even in seasons of doubt, God is near. Join us as we explore how to trust in God’s unseen presence and rediscover who He truly is.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson brings us back to center when doubt creeps in silently. Like the mice in the piano story who once believed in an unseen player but eventually attributed the music to mere mechanics, we sometimes question if God is really there. This struggle between faith and skepticism forms the foundation of our powerful exploration into who God truly is.
Moses' story provides a remarkable parallel to our modern faith journeys. After fleeing Egypt and spending 40 years in exile, Moses found himself in a barren wasteland, tending sheep at 80 years old, likely questioning the God he once believed in. The landscape of his life resembled Mount Horeb itself – desolate and seemingly abandoned. Yet it was precisely there, in what appeared to be divine absence, that God revealed Himself through the miraculous burning bush.
God meets us in our desolation. When life feels dry and we are most alone, God appears in extraordinary ways, turning ordinary ground into holy spaces. The revelation at the burning bush demonstrates three essential aspects of God's character: His holiness that demands reverence, His faithful connection to generations before us, and His compassionate response to suffering that moves Him to action.
Perhaps most surprisingly, this all-powerful God chooses to accomplish His purposes through imperfect human vessels like us. Just as He called an aging, doubtful Moses to lead the Israelites from bondage, God invites us to participate in His redemptive work today. Following Jesus means surrendering our self-sufficiency, our idols, and our personal authority to become more like Him.
Are you wandering through a desolate wasteland of doubt? Are you questioning if God has abandoned you? Your desert place may be exactly where God chooses to reveal Himself. Join us as we discover how to recognize God's presence even in life's most difficult seasons and learn to trust the unseen player when the music of life seems mechanical and empty. Ready to step onto holy ground? Listen now and rediscover who God truly is.
Thank you for joining us in this episode of In the Field Audio Bible, where we explore the richness of God’s Word, one chapter at a time. We hope today’s reading brought insight, comfort, or inspiration to your journey of faith.
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Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
I'm so happy to be back today on WFWR In the Field Worship Radio, and I'm so honored to be part of this Christian movement. Today we're going to discuss who is God. Who is God, father? We come to you today and ask for your guidance, ask for your help in delivering the message today that all these people deserve. We ask that you watch over us and be with the sick and shut in and, father, please forgive us for all of our sins. In Jesus' name, we pray amen and amen. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen and amen. Our message today about who is God comes from Exodus 3:1-22.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Today we're going to start with a story that's been around for many, many years in churches all over the world, especially in the UK, and it's a story about the piano mice. Imagine a family of mice who lived all their lives in a large old piano. In the piano world, the music of the instrument filled all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first, the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was someone who made the music, though invisible to them, above. Yet they were so close to them. They loved to think of the great player whom they could not see. Then one day, a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned very thoughtfully. You see, he had found out how the music was really made. Wires were the secret. Yes, tidily stretched wires of graduated lengths, and they would tremble and vibrate. This changes everything. Now the mice must revise all of their old beliefs. Some of the older mice, however, held on to the faith in the unseen player. Later, another mouse carried the explanation still farther. You see, he found out that the hammers were the secret. There were many hammers dancing and leaping on the strings. This was a much more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical and mathematical world.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Now mothers told their little ones about the myth of the unseen player. Is God really there? I imagine that Moses must have felt like one of those little mice inside that old piano. Like one of those little mice inside that old piano. You see, Moses' parents taught him about God when he was just a child. You see, he was found as a baby by the Pharaoh's daughter and he was raised as one of their family members, and he did not know that he was adopted. So Moses grew up believing in God.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
The Pharaoh's son told Moses one day that Moses was adopted and that he did not belong to this Egyptian family, that he was Jewish. So Moses went out to where the slaves were at and he saw one of the Roman guards beating up one of the Jewish men, and he took his part and actually killed the Roman guard. No one came to Moses' aid and so he ran. He fled and immediately, of course, he was on the Pharaoh's most wanted list. Moses fled into the Sinai desert and he met a lady there and they were married and for the next 40 years he was tending sheep for his father-in-law, jephro, in the desert. Moses probably had given up on the God of his fathers. After all, it had been 400 years or thereabout since God had spoken to his people and they had been slaves of the Egyptians.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Christians today, even you, sometimes have doubts. Sometimes we wonder if the mice may have been right, that there is no unseen player In those times. Our feelings toward God need to be renewed. That is what Moses discovered on Mount Horeb, which means desolate wasteland. In this next section we're going to talk about how the desert becomes holy Now.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Moses was deep into the desert and there's a lot of controversy over where Mount Horeb is, but some people claim it may be in Saudi Arabia, but it looks to me like it's on the peninsula, just to the west of Saudi Arabia the peninsula just to the west of Saudi Arabia, just south of Israel and to the east of Egypt, down in the very bottom of the peninsula. So he was way deep into the desert. At this point the grass was getting harder to find for the sheep. Moses felt like a failure. He tinned sheep in a barren wasteland. He's been there for over 40 years. He's now around 80 years old.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Sometimes the landscape of our lives looks like horrid, a desolate wasteland. Life is dry and barren and we are very much alone. But we're not alone. We only think we are. Horrid is called the mountain of God, last place Moses expected to meet up with God. Last place we expect to meet God. Last place Moses expected to meet up with God. Last place we expect to meet God is that place in our lives. Yet that is where God shows up. God meets us in our desolate places.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Moses is confronted by a bush on fire, but it doesn't burn up. He's never seen anything like this and he's been out in this desert for 40 years and he's never seen this. He does not know what it is, so he moves in to investigate and God speaks out of the bush. Then God speaks out of the bush. God makes his presence doubly sure. He sees the sign of God's presence. He hears the voice of God. Do not approach Moses. This ground is holy. Moses must remove his shoes because the shoes carry dirt. Moses is entering the house of the Lord, so to speak. God is holy, so the ground is holy.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Boy Moses is afraid. He is struck by his unworthiness to be in the presence of God. First thing we need to know is that God is holy. God in all his holy purity enters our dirty world. Holy faithfulness. God identifies himself as the God of Moses' father, not fathers. God connects himself with the faith of Moses' family in Egypt. He is also the God of the three great patriarchs, abraham, isaac and Jacob. This is the God of Israel. At this point, Moses knows with whom he's speaking and turns away in fear. He's afraid of being consumed by God's holiness. Moses hides his face, but the bush isn't consumed by God's holiness. Moses hides his face, but the bush isn't consumed, and neither is Moses.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
The last time God spoke to man. He encouraged Jacob to go to Egypt. When God reveals that it is he himself who is speaking with Moses, he does so in a way that also reveals his covenant faithfulness. He is God, yes, in all of his wholeness, but he is also the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. In all of his faithfulness. God shows up in our lives not to destroy us, but to help us. That too is good to know Faithful companionship. You see, god has faithful compassion. Compassion disarms fear. God cares deeply for his people. Our sufferings move God deeply. In fact, they move him to action. God calls Moses to help him with his task. God says I am sending.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Does it seem strange to you that the great God Almighty needs lowly humans to accomplish His work? Do you think, if God is God, he ought to be able to do these things all by Himself? No, this God uses even people like us for godly work. He uses you, he uses me, he uses pastors, he uses evangelists, he uses doctors, he uses everyone, and he will dip down and pull you up and say I got a job for you. God calls us not to deliver from Egypt like Moses, but to live in the name of Jesus, to go in Jesus' name, to be like Jesus. Do you trust God and take His word seriously? Do you put your life and the life of your family in His hands? When life is at its worst, we sometimes ask God has done nothing to prevent us from getting into this mess, so why should we believe he will get us out of it In closing, if this is?
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
what happens. If this is how God works, tell me friends, isn't it worth?
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
risking a step or two to move forward? Isn't it worth trusting God? Isn't it worth believing that he is holy and that he is faithful, and that he is compassionate, and that he is faithful and that he is compassionate? Are you wandering around in the time of doubt, in the midst of the experiences of life, when everything is out of control, when you are in that desolate wasteland like Moses was? Is God absent from your life? In these times, our knowledge, experience, are going to be renewed. That is what those of us discovered on Mount Moriah, the desert of the wasteland, would find when Jesus called his first disciples, and what those of us who have called his first disciples and who have lived and who have died.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
He left everything and followed him.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Jesus extends an invitation to Paul.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Paul said Thank you and heighten your brotherhood and your decision to follow Jesus and to follow Jesus will help you to follow Jesus and to be able to do what you want to do and to deserve our idol, our security and whatever else we give authority to in our life If we are to become like Jesus, which is what.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Following Jesus, is all about, then we must give up everything. So what are you holding on to? What have you not given up To follow Jesus one last time? Matthew 18, verse 3.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Jesus said, I say to you except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. John 3:2. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with you. Jesus answered and said unto him Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Are you ready to become like Jesus? Today? It is your time to step forward and show the world that, right here today, you become like Jesus. Let's pray together.
Evangelist Darrell Richardson:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe in you, jesus, that you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and into my life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. I want to be your disciple and will follow your commandments In your name, jesus. Amen. If you said that prayer today, get in touch with us here at the radio station. We're here to help you. You have our numbers, our email addresses, and we invite you to join us in the kingdom of God. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and to tell you about God and about Jesus. Thank you.
Darrell Richardson
Evangelist
Evangelist Darrell Richardson was born on April 7, 1946, in a small town in eastern Tennessee, where he grew up on a small farm. He loved to play basketball & baseball and studied music, playing the piano and organ in his local church.
He is known as a father, business leader, role model, teacher, evangelist, and follower of Jesus Christ. After retiring from more than a 50-year aviation career, God called him to serve as an evangelist and full-time missionary to both Haiti & Kenya. He helped to establish a primary school in Kenya that provides an education each year to hundreds of students in a small village made up mostly of farmers.
He has a strong relationship with Jesus and tells the story that Jesus told him one day, "Go tell them who I am." So, in the end, he sold everything so that he could follow Jesus' command, serving Him in the outback of Kenya as a missionary.
