What are we missing?

As I read the passages that I was to blog about, I was a little discouraged. I instantly had many new thoughts and perspectives about the previous passages up to this point so why not these. Why is something not coming to me so easily? Oh, I could write about how Moses kept trying to get out of his calling, how the Lord hardened pharoah's heart so that all people will know for generations to come that He is God and so that all glory was given unto Him, or a multitude of other great insights. But as I brought each one of these ideas up in my head, I wasn't satisfied with writing about them. I didn't feel that those things were what God wanted me to really learn. I felt like I would be settling just to hurry up and write a Bible study blog that I was already late in doing.

So I kept mulling and meditating over what I read and kept asking God what was I missing? What did he want me to see and what did he want me to write about? Many verses kept coming up but there was one in particular that I noticed when I first read it and that came up more frequently than the others as I was reflecting and seeking God's direction. It was Exodus 3:4 "When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

As I read this verse, I thought "Hmmm, interesting, Moses had to turn aside to go see the bush and God had to see this first before God actually would speak to him." And then I joked with myself, "Well, I guess curiosity doesn't always kill the cat." =) Even though that was the end of it as I was reading, it stuck in my head while I was getting ready for the day. While I was taking a shower, it kept coming up in my mind so here is how my thought process went...

"Why does that verse keep popping into my head. It doesn't seem significant - just interesting. No, I haven't ever noticed before that he had to turn aside. That is new to me but what is the point? Yes, I have just always thought he was walking and minding is own business when God got is attention by burning but not consuming the bush with fire and that God began immediately began speaking to him from the bush which is what made Moses stop and turn aside. Ok, so he actually turned aside first. What is the impact of this? What am I missing?

And then I realized that the fact that I was missing something was the very point that I was missing. What if Moses had also missed it that day? What would the impact have been then? What if he looked at the burning bush and thought "Whoa...it's burning but not being consumed...that never happens...hmmm...that's interesting." Then went on about his business. Maybe he would have gone home and told his father-in-law. Then their conversation might have gone something like this:

Moses: "Saw a bush burning today."
Jethro: "What's new?"
Moses: "It wasn't consumed by the fire."
Jethro: "Hmm. Wow. Are you sure?"
Moses: "Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes."
Jethro: "Do you know why it was burning but not consumed?"
Moses: "No, but it was interesting."
Jethro: "Did you go check it out to find out the mystery behind it?"
Moses: "Na, I had a lot of work to do."
Jethro: "Well, guess you will never know if it was real or just the desert heat playing tricks on you."

And that would have been the end of the Exodus which is what makes the action in this verse so significant even though the action itself was not difficult or extraordinary. Moses was going to have questions about the burning bush either way (whether he stopped or kept going) but the difference is that he actively sought an explanation. God saw this and honored him for it by revealing Himself to Moses. Had Moses not responded to the miracle he saw by deliberately stopping and turning aside to investigate then Moses would have just been left with questions and doubt instead of answers and purpose.

When times got tough and Moses had doubts about himself, God, or others, Moses might have wished that he would have just kept walking. But then he (and subsequently all of Isreal) would have missed out on one of the greatest acts of redemption. Which as it so happens, set the stage for THE greatest redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross for ALL humanity. What seems like a small and insignificant act of simply not turning aside to see could have been the very thing that kept hundreds of thousands of people from being saved. But Moses did turn aside to see and it was this local action that had a global and eternal impact.

So the question is "What are you missing?" And what are you possibly causing others here and around the world to miss out on now and forever? What are you not doing or neglecting because you simply don't stop your daily routine long enough to focus on finding out the answers to questions you have? What unexplainable things are happening around you but you do nothing to find the explanation it because you deem it unimportant for whatever reason. You notice it but you chalk it up to "I can't explain it" instead of immediately and purposely stopping what you are doing and turning aside to fully and clearly see it, thus giving God the opportunity to call you.

We need to keep asking God everyday "What are we missing?" and not be satisfied until his Holy Spirit gives us an answer. The Lord, the great I AM, WILL bless our efforts to know His will by giving us the answers that we seek.