Forty Years in Training

Moses was stunned, to say the least. He thought he was done. He had been living in relative obscurity, thinking he would never do much again. After all, he hadn’t heard from God for forty years. But suddenly one day God was speaking to him from a burning bush.

What Moses didn’t realize was that God had been preparing him all that time. By watching a little flock of sheep, he was in training to lead a human flock, numbering over two million, to freedom.

So there he was, standing before a burning bush. Moses had spent a lot of time in the wilderness. He saw a lot of tumbleweeds. He watched bushes catch fire and burn out. But this one was different. It continued to burn yet did not dissipate.

Something ordinary was doing an extraordinary thing. In other words, God was doing something to get Moses’ attention. And then He spoke.

God told Moses that He had seen the suffering of His people, and He was appointing Moses to go to Pharaoh and take the Hebrews to freedom.

Moses was an older man by that time. He was seasoned. Wiser.

In effect God was saying to him, “Moses, look at that old bush. Do you see how it keeps burning? That is what I’m going to do with you. You will continue burning until My purpose is accomplished. Are you up for that?”

God told him, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations” (Exodus 3:15 NLT).

We tend to look at these men through rose-colored glasses. Abraham had his lapses of faith, as did Jacob. Yet God was saying, “I am the God of men who have failed. I am the God of ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary things. There is hope for you. I’m not only the God of Abraham. I’m not only the God of Isaac and Jacob. I am the God of Moses.”

He was calling Moses and giving him a second chance. He had been seasoning Moses and getting him ready for what was ahead. Moses didn’t know when he woke up that day that his life would change forever. It came unexpectedly.

When something out of the ordinary happens in our lives, it may be the Lord trying to speak to us. When we have an unexpected change of plans, when something we weren’t preparing for happens, we think it’s the worst thing.

Maybe something like this has happened to you recently. There has been a change in your plans. You wonder what’s going on. Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention.

It just might be the hand of God trying to say something or direct you in a certain way. And what may seem like a coincidence actually may be Providence. Disappointment is His appointment.

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