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Collecting Moments Weekly

It Starts With A Seemingly Insignificant Moment

By January 1, 2018 No Comments

In one seemingly insignificant moment of Moses’ life, it all changed.

There he was, busying himself at work, going about his everyday normal life, when God showed up.

The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. —Exodus 3:2 (MSG)

Moses was confused, but he was also intrigued.

“What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?” 3

Seeing that He had Moses’ attention, God nudged Him deeper.

“Moses! Moses!” 4

And Moses responded.

“Yes? I’m right here!” 4

So God brought Him into a place of surrender, reverence and consecration.

“Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.” 5

Moses obeyed.

Then God reminded Moses of Who He is.

“I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” 6

Moses was humbled by this and drawn into a holy place of awe and wonder, so God invited Moses into an opportunity.

“I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.” 10

Moses asked, “Why me?”
God reassured Him, “I’ll be with you.”
Moses asked more questions … very logical, rational and practical questions.

“Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” 13

So God reassured Him more:

“Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’” 14

The rest of this chapter ends with God releasing Moses to go, “Now be on your way” (16), and we’re afforded the beautiful opportunity to turn the page of this story and find out that, yes, Moses eventually did go and he did move. It wasn’t without asking a few more questions, raising a few concerns, and admitting to a few stressful doubts and insecurities, but yes, Moses did go and he did move.

Is this not also how it looks when God shows up in our lives?

We are no different than Moses.

It starts with a seemingly insignificant moment.

So there we are, busying ourselves at work, living our normal lives and going about our everyday responsibilities, when suddenly, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something happens to catch our attention.

Do we take notice like Moses did?
Do we ask God what’s going on?
Do we acknowledge the wonder of it all? Or …
Do we walk on by, completely missing out on the God moment?

Here’s what we learn from this story about moments like this.

When God sees He has our attention, and He knows we’re captivated by His presence, He takes liberty to nudge us deeper.

Will we respond like Moses?

“Yes? I’m right here!” 4

And if we do respond, will we then allow God to bring us into places of surrender, reverence and consecration?

“Remove your sandals bad friendships, old habits, hard heart, sinful ways, doubts and insecurities, from your feet life. You’re standing on holy ground.” 5

Will we obey?
Will we allow God to re-introduce Himself to our hearts?
Will we allow His majesty to draw us even deeper into holy places of awe and wonder?

If we aren’t willing to get to this point, how can we ever allow the next part of the story to unfold in our lives?

If we’re unwilling to notice the seemingly insignificant moments, how can we ever position our hearts to be invited into bigger opportunities?

We say we want God to use us, but are we first willing to notice the burning bushes happening all around us?

We say we’ll respond and do whatever He asks, but are we willing to take off our sandals (and the other layers of “stuff” we use to protect ourselves) and bare our broken, cracked, blistered, dirty, dry, worn out, tired and used up “bottom parts”, and expose them to His simple nudges?

Here’s what else this story teaches us …

If we are willing to notice, and we are willing to say yes, and we are willing to take off our “sandals,” then yes, God can invite us into places of opportunity in the exact same way He invited Moses.

It won’t matter if we doubt, “Why me?”
It won’t matter if we throw a million questions at Him.
It won’t even matter if we have deep concerns and feel like a bag of insecurities.

Because before you can ever get to this point, you have to have noticed the beginning … where …

It all starts with a seemingly insignificant moment.

So do you? Do you see the seemingly insignificant moments of your life as opportunities for God to speak? Are you listening? Are you noticing? Are you really ready to respond?

“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You.”

—Michael W. Smith

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