God spoke to Moses only after Moses took time to 'turn aside and look' at the burning bush. The lesson for each of us is this: are we taking time to turn aside from the regular, incessant rhythm of our day and look at a burning bush in our own life? As stated by Barton, a burning bush is a most ordinary object that becomes extraordinary because it is on fire with divine activity.
The difficulty for many of us is that we are so busy dealing with life's urgent needs or with future thinking that we miss the ordinary elements of our life in which God is presently at work. If we do not take time to turn aside and look, we may be missing God's voice calling to us.
How does one turn aside and look? It probably looks a bit different for each of us. But I wonder if it always includes time of quieting one's soul. To quiet your soul you could begin by taking prayerful time to look at your life this past week. Name the ways God has been present in your life. If you're not remembering or seeing them ... ask God to remind you - they are there, we simply need to quiet ourselves to see them.
As we begin to see the burning bushes that existed in our life this past week - bushes that we didn't take time to turn aside and watch and wonder at - we can ask God what He intended us to hear/know/learn from Him. As we hear the Holy Spirit's counsel, wisdom, and guidance, our soul will respond. We become quieted and will more likely see other burning bushes in our lives...and thus maybe, just maybe, we'll hear God calling to us.
I encourage you... even challenge you to:
- begin paying attention to the burning bushes in your life. Where and what is God doing presently - right now - with the ordinary things of your life?
- How can you quiet your soul - how can you make time to turn aside and look, not only around you, but within you?
- What is it God wants to speak to you.... about what is God calling out to you?
