On the Mountain

Exodus 3:1-8

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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.

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

God met with Moses on the mountain to tell him that He was about to deliver the children of Israel out of bondage to the Egyptians. Later, in Exodus 19:3-4, God called Moses up into the mountain again to meet with Him. It was at this meeting that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as reported in chapter 20.

Between these two amazing encounters there was a lot of trouble. Moses had to go before Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world at that time, and demand that he release the children of Israel. Pharaoh refused to let them go, so there were all the horrifying plagues that God sent on Egypt. After he finally had enough and agreed to release the slaves, Pharaoh changed his mind again and pursued them. These newly freed slaves were being chased by the most powerful army in the world and were starting to get upset with Moses and blame him for their situation. God provided an escape for them through the Red Sea, but later they started to complain about not having enough food. God provided manna, but they even ended up complaining about that. Moses had his hands full, but God never left him.

Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

God is always with us, whether we’re on the mountain or in the valley. We need to remember that there can be no valley unless there are at least two mountains for it to be between. If you find yourself in a valley and feel like giving up, just remember there will be another mountain.