A Barefoot Man’s SurrenderUzorak

Take off your shoes

As we participate in the process of knowing God’s will by paying attention to those “burning bushes” of our lives, stepping closer and investigating, listening and coming to a place of surrender, and surrendering, we are inevitably led to worship. Moses was too: When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exod. 3:4-5).

God’s presence in the burning bush was something known as a theophany, or an appearance or manifestation of God in a temporary form perceptible to the human senses. In other words, God’s appearing to man in a way that man could see and discern.

Moses saw God, but he saw Him in representative form, as an angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord was a true and real manifestation of God, but not the fullness of Him. Moses’ response to this theophany, this appearance of God, was the recognition that he stood in the presence of the Holy. The Lord said that His presence there on the mountain made the very ground on which Moses stood “holy ground.”

God called Moses by name and spoke to him directly. The weight of that personal meeting, and God’s instruction to “Take off your shoes” drove Moses to respond in humility. Louie Giglio says, “Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and how we live.”

Moses personally responded to God’s holy presence by drawing near and, as a sign of reverence and respect, removing his shoes. Then, as Moses hid his face, God revealed to him what He planned to do through Moses on behalf of his people. He told Moses how He would defeat enemy nations (and He even called them by name!), rescue the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land (see Exod. 3:7-10).

At God’s direction, Moses humbly removed his shoes, an act that was seen as a sign of respect toward a superior, and an Eastern custom when entering another person’s dwelling. Moses was acknowledging his humility before God, and his presence in the holy place of God.