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.
Moses was a Hebrew man who had been raised in the Egyptian royal household but eventually fled to the wilderness after killing an Egyptian guard. He spent forty years as a shepherd before this moment. One day he saw something impossible — a bush on fire that wasn't burning up — and went to investigate. God spoke to him from the bush, and this verse is God identifying himself: not just as a general deity, but as the God of Moses' own ancestors — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three founding patriarchs of the people of Israel. Moses' immediate response was to cover his face out of fear. It's one of Scripture's most vivid pictures of what it feels like to encounter something genuinely holy.
God, I've gotten used to you in ways I'm not sure are good. Remind me who you are — vast, holy, the God of generations — and help me approach you not with fear that drives me away, but with awe that pulls me close. Amen.
We've domesticated God. He shows up on coffee mugs and bumper stickers, in background music at the dentist's office. We talk about him casually, scroll past him, schedule him in when it's convenient. And then there's Moses — a burned-out shepherd with a violent past, forty years deep into a quiet life in the middle of nowhere — and he walks up to a burning bush and runs into something that makes him cover his face. The strange thing isn't that Moses was scared. The strange thing is *what* scared him. God didn't arrive in thunder. He spoke gently. He connected himself to a family story — 'I knew your grandfather. I made promises to your great-great-grandfather.' It was intimate. And still Moses couldn't look. There is something in genuine holiness that unmakes our composure, no matter how softly it speaks. When is the last time something about God left you speechless — not just moved, but undone? That wasn't the end of Moses. It was the beginning of everything he was made to do. You may be mid-desert right now, deep in ordinary Tuesdays. But the God who showed up at that bush hasn't changed his habits.
Why do you think God identified himself through relationships — 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' — rather than simply announcing 'I am God'? What does it tell you about how God understands his own identity?
When you picture God, what image or feeling comes naturally? Does the idea of God as something so holy that Moses couldn't even look at him challenge or shift that picture at all?
We often describe 'getting closer to God' as entirely positive and comfortable. But Moses' instinct was to hide his face. Is there something healthy — even necessary — in that reaction? What do we risk losing when we lose our reverence?
Moses was a nobody shepherd in the middle of nowhere when God showed up and changed everything. How does that affect the way you see people in your life who seem spiritually ordinary or unlikely to encounter God in a significant way?
What would it look like this week to approach your time with God with more genuine awe and less casual routine — not to make it harder or more religious, but more honest about who you're actually talking to?
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Exodus 23:20
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Exodus 3:15
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Matthew 22:32
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 1:18
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Revelation 1:17
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Genesis 3:10
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:16
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Genesis 17:7
Then He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
AMP
And he said, “I am the God of your 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 at God.
ESV
He said also, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
NASB
Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
NIV
Moreover He said, “I am the God of your 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.
NKJV
I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.
NLT
Then he said, "I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
MSG