Exodus 3:1-6: in context

As Moses tends his flock in the wilderness, he sees an astonishing sight: a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed. He turns aside to look, and God calls to him from the bush. But before God gives Moses his commission, he says something about the ground itself: do not come near; take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. And he declares himself: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hides his face, afraid to look at God.

What God requires of Moses at the bush is reverence. Before anything else, before the commission, before the conversation, God marks the encounter with holiness: take off your sandals, for this is holy ground. The removal of sandals was an act of reverence, an acknowledgment that this was no ordinary place but the place of God's holy presence. And Moses' own response was reverent fear: he hid his face, afraid to look at God. The encounter with God's holy presence was not casual or familiar but marked by awe, reverence, the removal of sandals, the hiding of the face. This is a needed reminder in how we approach God. We can grow casual with God, approaching him lightly, familiarly, forgetting the holiness of the One we come before. The burning bush recalls us to reverence. God is holy; his presence is holy ground; and the fitting response to it is awe, reverence, the acknowledgment that we stand before the holy God. This does not mean we cannot approach God, or that he is not near and loving; he called Moses by name and spoke with him tenderly. But it means that our approach, even in its intimacy, is to be marked by reverence for his holiness, not the casual familiarity that forgets who he is. Let us have grace, Hebrews says, by which we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Reverence and intimacy are not opposed; the God who is near is also holy. This searches whether we have lost the reverence that God's holiness calls for. Have we grown casual, approaching God lightly, forgetting that his presence is holy ground? The burning bush recalls us to awe: take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy. God is not less near for being holy, nor less holy for being near; and our approach to him is to hold both, the intimacy of a God who calls us by name and the reverence due to the God who is holy. This calls us to approach God with reverence and awe. The God who met Moses at the bush is the holy God, whose presence is holy ground, before whom Moses hid his face; and while he draws us near and calls us by name, we are called to come before him not with casual familiarity but with the reverence and awe that his holiness rightly calls forth, serving him acceptably with reverence, for our God is a consuming fire.

Have I grown casual in approaching God, coming before him lightly and familiarly, forgetting the holiness of the One I come before, and can the burning bush, where God told Moses to take off his sandals because the place was holy ground and Moses hid his face in awe, recall me to the reverence God's holiness calls for, so that I approach him not with casual familiarity but with reverence and awe, holding together the intimacy of a God who calls me by name and the holiness of the God who is a consuming fire?