Solitary Glory

I was thinking this morning of young Moses as a picture of fame and celebrity. If there were paparazzi back then they would have followed young Moses. He was fished out of the water of anonymity and found it to be a double edged sword.

"When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.' ... And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, 'Because,' she said, 'I drew him out of the water.' " - Exodus 2:6, 9-10 ESV

With renown comes money and other things but people then need to use that money to create a breathing space to have a life. Renown can turn ugly quite quickly. People like to tear down the things that others have built up.

"One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, 'Why do you strike your companion?'

He answered, 'Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?'

Then Moses was afraid, and thought, 'Surely the thing is known.'

When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well." - Exodus 2:11-15 ESV

Moses was not burdened the way his people were burdened but he was burdened in his own way and his fame seemed to separate him in the crowd. I wonder if when he sat by that rock if it was the first time in his life that he had been alone.

"Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, 'How is it that you have come home so soon today?' They said, 'An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.' " - Exodus 2:16-19 ESV

"And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, 'I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.' " - Exodus 2:21-22 ESV

"Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And 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 3:1-4 ESV

The burning bush is a representation of God's solitary glory. Fame and prying eyes had consumed Moses in his early life. Now He was anonymous but purposeless. God was content to be God in the middle of nowhere. God's glory does not consume Him. He is glorious when there are worshipers and when there is no one there who seems to notices.

Perhaps fame is not an issue for most of us.

Grace gives us the benefits of fame without the pitfalls. We are known as we should be known and God gets the glory just as He should.

I pray for people who have the bright lights shining on them. I'm not always happy for them either. That is a harder place to be than it looks. Famous people often don't know who their friends really are. It is a place that can burn a person up quickly.

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior," - 1 Timothy 2:1-3 ESV

Perhaps we think praying for public people is just giving them even more attention. Why should they get more attention from us. But they are souls that need prayer. They are being pushed and pulled in crazy ways. They truly need prayer.

We hope that they would see their burning bush. Oh, How we all need to turn aside and observe that bush. It is where we leave the natural behind and witness an enduring eternal glory... a glory that changes us forever.

--