The Burning Bush

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, in the wilderness when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. He was amazed that the bush wasn’t burning up, and decided to go closer to take a look (Exodus 3:2-3). This is the moment when the Lord spoke to Moses and said:  “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).

What struck me, when reading today’s verse, was that the Lord only spoke when Moses went closer. He stopped what he was doing and went closer to take a look. It made me wonder what would have happened if Moses had just ignored the flaming bush because he was too busy working, or had been too tired after his long journey into the wilderness and wanted to rest first, or for any other reason.

How often is the Lord nudging us and trying to get our attention to His presence in our lives? Are we aware of Him and do we then turn to Him with expectant hearts, listening to His voice? He is waiting for us to ‘come closer’ so that He can speak to us or show us something. But often we are too busy, too tired, distracted, angry, self-sufficient, sad or confused. Or maybe we feel too insignificant for the Lord to speak to us.

There are many reasons why we ignore the Lord’s nudges and why we don’t turn to focus on Him. It may not be a burning bush as it was for Moses, but the Lord knows us very well and He knows what draws our attention and ‘makes us tick’.

We can, therefore, live with expectant hearts and look up from what is consuming us to meeting with our Father in our everyday lives. He is waiting for us to notice His nudging, stop what we may be doing, and respond as Moses did: “Here I am!”