January 9, 2022

Exodus 3: 1-6, 10 (NIV)

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law . . . and he led his flock to . . . Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. . . . God called to him from within the bush . . . Then he said, “I am the God of your father . . . So, now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people . . . out of Egypt.”

Even while we wait, God is preparing the next step in his plan for our lives.*

September 11, 2001, resonates with all Americans old enough to remember it. None of us will ever forget where we were when we got the news. And each of us responded emotionally, based on our life experiences and our natural inclinations. I learned about it while in a staff meeting and I was stirred by the thought of the many people who died as they were just going about the business of their day. They went to work, just like I did that day. They weren’t soldiers, law enforcement, or firefighters who expect to put their lives at risk each day. They were just people like me, living their lives.

Just as tragedy can come upon us as we go about our daily lives, so can God’s call. Moses was out in the desert tending sheep – not a glamorous job, and they weren’t even his sheep. He certainly didn’t expect to hear from God that day. I suspect that Moses wasn’t giving much thought to God’s plans for his future, but we often do. We want to know what God wants from us; where he wants us to serve. We’re willing and ready – we think.

The truth is, we’re not ready until God says we’re ready. In the meantime, we should be serving God where we are – tending sheep, pumping gas, waiting on customers, raising our kids, teaching Sunday School. As someone has expressed it, “He seeks a man traveling an ordinary road.”* Perhaps God wants to see how you handle the ordinary before he entrusts you with the extraordinary. Or perhaps at the end of life you will learn that your ordinary life had an extraordinary impact on other lives.

Jesus prepared 30 years for his three-year ministry.*