Take Off Your Sandals

Exodus 3:5 "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Moses is doing ordinary work — tending Jethro's flock, a task he has performed for forty years — when something catches his eye.

A bush is burning, but it is not consumed. He turns aside to look. And in that turning aside, everything changes. God speaks from the fire, calls Moses by name twice, and before He gives any commission, issues a requirement: take off your sandals.

The ground beneath ordinary feet has become holy ground. The sandals represent the barrier between the human and the holy — the practical, work-worn layer of distance we maintain from the sacred. God does not begin by giving Moses a mission statement.

He begins by establishing His own identity and requiring proximity. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Before Moses can understand what he is being sent to do, he must understand who is doing the sending.

The burning bush is not primarily about a commission; it is about an encounter. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. This is the correct response to genuine holiness. In an age that speaks of God with casual familiarity — a life coach, a best friend, a feeling — the burning bush calls us back to trembling.

There is a reverence that has been lost, and without it the commission that follows has no weight. You cannot carry holy fire if you have never removed your sandals.

The divine name revealed at the bush — "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14, Yahweh) — is the most profound self-disclosure in the Old Testament. God is not defined by reference to anything outside Himself. He simply is — self-existent, self-sufficient, uncaused, eternal.

This name becomes the sacred centre of Israel's covenant identity. Jesus' "I AM" statements in John's Gospel (I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the resurrection and the life) deliberately echo this name, making an unmistakable claim to the same divine identity.

Isaiah 6:1-5 maps the same sequence: vision of holiness → conviction of unworthiness → cleansing → commission. True prophetic calling always passes through this pattern. The commission does not precede the encounter.

It flows from it. 🪞 Reflect on this • When did you last experience what could be described as "holy ground" — a moment of genuine reverence that stopped you in your tracks? What were the conditions of that encounter?

• Moses hid his face. How does genuine awe of God change the quality of your obedience, your service, your prayer? • What "sandals" do you need to remove — what practical barriers, casual assumptions, or habitual distances — to draw closer to the fire of God's presence?

👣 Take a Step A Holy Ground Moment Set aside 20 minutes this week for worship with no agenda except encounter. No requests, no plans, no list. Simply be present before the burning bush — the God who is.

Let reverence precede everything else.

Lord, I confess I have approached You too casually, too efficiently, too quickly. Teach me to stop at the bush, to remove my sandals, to hide my face in holy fear. Let every encounter with You begin with the awareness of who You are.

Amen. "Before the commission comes the encounter. Remove your sandals. This is holy ground.