Turned Aside

 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:2-4...."God waits for us to notice the uncommon in the midst of the common." Dudley Hall

I'm very thankful for all the times I can point to the miraculous works of God in my life, all the times He "showed up" and did wonders. I expect you are too. Yet the above Scripture causes me to ask myself, "How many times have I missed His activity around me, and what He wanted to do in me as a result?" Could it be that when we stand before Him, we will see all those times, and discover that they far outnumber occasions when we did see, we did notice? What will we have missed in our blindness? What could have been if we had only been looking for "the uncommon in the common?"

We love the spectacular, and that's most often how we look for Him to work, with awesome displays of power. He can and does, but the Bible doesn't indicate that He does so very often. Like Elijah's experience in the cave, He wasn't in the windstorm, earthquake, or fire, but in the gentle whisper. How many of us would expect Him to be in the first three, and so miss Him in His whisper? How many of us miss Him in the various ways He chooses to whisper into our lives?

As Moses walked in the desert, he saw something that might well have been common in that part of the world, a burning bush. The reasons for it would be many, and likely, he'd seen such before. However, there was something happening that he could not have seen; though on fire, the bush was not being burnt up. He didn't miss the uncommon in the midst of the common. He came close to see what it might be about, and when He did, He heard the voice of the Father, who told Him that He was speaking to him because he had turned aside at the sight. Obviously, if Moses had continued on his way, he would not have had this encounter with God. If he had kept on, would the Lord have sought another opportunity to speak to him? If he had kept on, would he have ever become the one who would lead Israel out from their captivity, or would have God raised up another? One thing is certain; if he had not turned aside, he would have missed a life changing encounter with the Creator of the Universe. Such is any encounter with Him. Moses didn't miss it, but how many have we missed? How many times have we been too busy, too preoccupied, too intent upon realizing our agendas, meeting our goals, fulfilling our desires, to notice the uncommon presence and work of the Lord in the midst of the ordinary day to day events of life? How many times has He sought to get our attention, but couldn't because we didn't see, didn't notice, and didn't hear? We didn't turn aside and we missed Him. in the missing, what was the cost to us? I am not looking forward at all to what all my missed encounters with Him cost me in this life. Are you?

A.W. Tozer said that the "overwhelming majority of the church doesn't understand what their purpose in life is." We've missed too many burning bushes and gentle whispers. There is a cost to us for sure, but what has our missing cost those around us? How many will never receive what He had for them through us because we never heard His call to go to them, because we didn't like the means of His calling and voice?

Whatever burning bushes we have missed, can we determine that we'll miss no more? Can we seek to have spiritual eyes and ears so tuned to Him, that we hear His whispers, His callings, no matter what means He chooses? We all have day to day lives to live, but may no day be so consuming that when He appears, we miss Him. May nothing keep us from turning aside....to Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O