A contradiction of realities...

Exodus 3:1-4.

    Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 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.”

   All through Moses' life there were contradictions. He was born a slave and  became a prince. Babies were wiped out by Pharaoh for fear of a great leader, but Moses was sent away and saved by the family of Pharaoh and tutored by a powerful leader. He was a prince who became a murderer for a race of slaves. All very strong contradictions. And here Moses stands, being ushered into his destiny, by another contradiction. A bush, on fire, and not destroyed.

   I am amazed at how often God uses something that should be falling apart to rescue me. How He takes what seems to be the insignificant and turns it into the most important thing in my life. I think that something as lowly as a scrub brush on the side of a mountain would be a poor billboard for the great leader of an entire nation.

   The idea was to show Moses another reality. In Moses' reality when a bush was on fire it was consumed. But when a bush was on fire in God's reality not only does it not burn, but it talks to you. A snake is not a staff, but in God's reality a staff is a snake and a warning to the greatest military power in the world to release it's slaves.

   In your reality you shouldn't be able to pay your bills. Your sickness should not leave. Your home should not sell. Your family should fall apart. Your calling should never happen. Your happiness wont return. You should be depressed, weary, struggling, broken, pitiful, self absorbed, fearful, or weak. 

   But God's reality looks very much different. He may not have broken your life, maybe you did that all on your own. But your brokenness is His bush. And as on fire as you might feel, you are a sign and a wonder to the world because you are not consumed.  And more than this, you are being led into His perfect purpose for your life.

  The only difference between a bush in the middle of the desert and a bush that fulfills the perfect will of God is the Presence of Someone who radiates purpose and wonder. You, little lonely scrub brush, can inspire nations if you let that fire rest on you.