Your Burning Bush

 Often, when we think of wilderness seasons in our lives, we think of isolation. grief. desolation. loneliness. suffering. endlessness. Wilderness seasons are, for the most part, viewed as unwelcome. We do not like to approach them with any sense of opportunity or positivity. If anything, they're something most of us would like to avoid. They disturb our daily rhythms. They shake us out of the comfort of the lives we've built. They disrupt our sense of identity and belief. These are not things we readily run to. However...  

What if I told you the wilderness seasons actually carry the power to effect the most change in your life?

 What if you knew that a hidden blessing awaited you in the remoteness of your own desert and that you would find God in the place you least expected Him? 

I've been thinking a lot lately about the biblical story of Moses and the burning bush. A tale of a plant that catches on fire but does not burn may sound like something too good to be true but such are the ways of God: He does the impossible and He often accomplishes it in such a manner that there is no other explanation other than, God did this. This moment in Exodus 3 where He calls Moses to his divine assignment is one such incident and it occurred in... yes... a wilderness. Moses had been in the desert for a long time, making a life for himself tending sheep. I find it interesting that the story begins by saying that "he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness..." He was into the desolate place very deep. 

There have been times in my life when I too have found myself on "the far side of the wilderness." There is no clear exit and the suffocation of the desert heat, the chill of the darkness at night, the lack of any creature comforts has been enough to nearly take the hope right out of me. Perhaps you've felt that way also. You've wandered in this space of remoteness for so long that you've forgotten what it is to live fully alive. You know others have forgotten you because you've been out in the desolation indefinitely and you even wonder if God can see you here as well. But then... 

The story continues that here, on this "far side of the wilderness," is where God shows up. The Lord appeared to Moses in the flames from within the bush. And God calls to Him. God woos us in the desert places. Hosea 2:14 says so: He will lead His wandering people into the wilderness and speak tenderly to them. His call leads through the remote places. Like Moses, we cannot hear the voice of God or assume our divine assignment and step into the healing He desires for each of us unless we walk through a season (or many) where we're forced to turn down the volume on the rest of our lives and rely on Him alone. He even sent His own Son into the wilderness for forty days to be tested before He could step into His earthly ministry and do the work God had sent Him to do. There is a call waiting for us on the "far side." 

And what God says to Moses next is simply a command to "remove your shoes for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." God consecrates the wilderness places. The locations and journeys which, to us, feel so desperate and hopeless and impossible becomes sacred spaces where we experience God and He begins to set in motion a plan for our wholeness. He chose this "far side of the wilderness" as the location where He would reveal to Moses that He had heard the cries of His people in slavery and would go about setting them free: "I have come down to rescue them..." The tears you have sobbed, the sleepless nights you have tossed in bed, the anxious thoughts you have battled, the losses you have felt, the questions you have wrestled with... God has seen and heard them all and He's come to meet with you in this place - to remind you that He is with you. 

Just as He sent water for Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16), manna and quail for the Hebrews (Exodus 16), angels to attend to Jesus (Matthew 4), and sustaining rest, food, and drink for a suicidal Elijah (1 Kings 19), so He also knows what you need to survive your own wilderness. And just because He's promised to redeem this season for your good doesn't mean it will be instantly over. You may still be here for awhile. But you can be confident that all of this stripping away and breaking down will be used to build you into a new you that eventually walks away from the wilderness with a changed perspective and a closer relationship with the Almighty. 

There is a burning bush moment waiting for you here... on "the far side of the wilderness." God is ready to speak and meet with you, calling you into something holier and better than anything you've ever known before. He asks you to take off your shoes - a sign of humility and respect - and worship Him here, for this place will now be known to you forever as a sacred space where He came to you in your desperation. You will raise a stone of remembrance in your life here and always come back to this time when it all changed. In your suffering, you were reborn. You were remade. And it happened in the desert season - where God often takes the ones He loves and has the biggest plans for. A time in the wilderness is a sign of God's blessing and an invitation to deeper faith. Like Moses, the place where you least expected to find Him is actually the very place He wants to come to you the most.