Burning Bushes

 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,[b] the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” Exodus 3:1-3

The late pastor and author Jamie Buckingham, writing about the wilderness experiences of our spiritual lives said, "The tragedy of our wilderness experience is not that we have to go through grief and suffering, but that we often miss the blessings from burning bushes - the things through which God speaks." That is a powerful statement. None of us look for the wilderness, and in fact, we usually want to do anything to avoid it, or once in it, get out of it. Yet there are wonders there if we will have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Moses, once a prince of Egypt, was now a humble shepherd walking in the backside of the desert. We can only imagine what must have been going through his mind about his situation. Foremost would have to be, where was God? We often tend to get so focused on the desert we're in that we lose all sight and sense of Him. Our ears grow deaf to His voice and our eyes dim to His Spirit. The enemy will use the desert to try to convince us He has abandoned us, forgotten us, that He cares nothing for us. As we yield to those suggestions we become hardened to His Presence. The reality is that for everyone He leads into the wilderness, He has a "burning bush" that will be unique to us alone.

If Moses had been consumed with bitterness and anger over his situation, he either would never have noticed the burning bush, or if he had, would have been so consumed by his circumstances that he would not have bothered to go over to it. If that had been his response he would never have experienced and heard the voice of his God. He never would have become what the Father was using the wilderness to mold him into. Moses wouldn't have, and neither will we. J.D. Walt said, "Everything that happens is not God's will, but He has a will in everything that happens." However it may be that we have ended up in the wilderness, He is sovereign there and He has a will and purpose for us. It will be for our good and for His glory. He will use the wilderness to take us deeper into Himself and higher in His ways and life. He will bring us out, and when we emerge, we will not be the same. We will be stronger in the power of His life, but this will only be so if we see the burning bush and turn aside to see and hear what the Lord will say and do through it.

If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, there is a wilderness awaiting you and more than one. Maybe you're there already. Burning bushes will be placed specifically for you. Will you turn aside for them, or in bitterness bemoan that you are there, bombard Him with complaints and pleas to get you out of it? If so, you'll miss His burning bush and the door He will open through it. If you're in the backside of the desert, keep walking. Keep trusting. Keep believing. He has a burning bush for you, and a way not just out of the desert, but into the fullness of His life. He never ceases to bring beauty from ashes, or green meadows from deserts.

Blessings,
Pastor O