In Exodus 3, Moses turns aside to see a bush burning with fire yet not consumed. Out of this vision, God speaks the words that reveal His eternal identity: “I AM THAT I AM.”
This moment is not history, but revelation. The bush and its fire symbolise the very structure and activity of your own imagination.
The Bush as the Mind
The bush or tree represents the mind — the branching network of thoughts, beliefs, and ideas that make up your inner world. It is the living structure in which imagination moves.
The Fire as Imagination
"Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD" — Song of Solomon 8:6 ESV
The fire that burns upon the bush without consuming it is imagination itself. Thoughts and images appear, flare up, vanish, and are replaced by others, yet the root remains. The mind is never destroyed by imagination, but is continually animated by it.
This is why the vision is given to Moses: to show that God is not found in an outward place but in the inward fire of imagination.
The Divine Name
From within this vision comes the declaration of God’s name: “I AM THAT I AM.” God - you - identifies Himself with his own sense of being. The awareness of “I AM” is the eternal source from which every image proceeds.
When you say I AM and follow it with what you desire, you are standing on holy ground. You are doing exactly what Moses did: turning aside to see the fire of imagination and hearing the voice of God within it.
The Meaning for Us
The burning bush is the symbol of imagination alive in man. It shows us that the passing images of thought are not random sparks but the living fire of God declaring Himself.
To recognise this is to know that God is present in every act of imagining. And when you claim, “I AM what I desire to be,” you are calling upon the same Name revealed to Moses: the eternal I AM.