Take Off Your Shoes

June 12, 2018

Good Morning Fellow Travelers,

Read: Exodus 3


“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14


Throughout the Old Testament, we see the spectacular manifestations of the presence of God. At creation, He spoke and worlds came into being. At Sinai, He came with storm and fire and tempest. At the dedication of the temple, He came in a cloud. In our story here, He came in a burning bush that was not consumed.

He creates with a word. He destroys with a breath. He cures blindness with spittle and clay, or by a simple touch to the hem of His robe. He revolutionizes the world with a few fishermen, a tax collector, and a few other young fellows of little previous account. He, and they, raise the dead literally, and go on to establish a church of believers that has stood for two thousand years, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.

“Take off your shoes”, God tells Moses. “You are on holy ground.” These encounters are holy encounters that demand our reverence. To approach God carelessly is to commit sacrilege. The men of Bethshemesh found this out in I Samuel 6:19, and fifty thousand died.

Often the command to “take off our shoes” is because God has a special work for us to do, and it demands that we pay attention, and be still. We are so often tempted to run off as Jonah did. God wants us to be immobile. We don’t need shoes for this holy encounter.

Notice the formidable task to which He called Moses. He was to persuade a heathen ruler to free six hundred thousand slaves. Put this in a modem context, if you will. Now Moses knew why he was to remove his shoes.

God may have something for you to do. Obedience is simply removing the shoes of our own timidity and self-love before the will of God.

– James Baer