The angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
EXODUS 3:2
I wonder if Moses ever thought of giving up. He’s a perfect example of how God uses every season to prepare us for our biggest moments — at least, if we let him. Moses was a Hebrew baby who was adopted by the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter. He spent the first forty years of his life in Pharaoh’s palace, where he was educated by the finest teachers and trained for leadership by the best in the land. Then, an inner call stirred him to help his people who had been living as slaves to the Egyptians for more than four hundred years.
Rather than wait for his opportunity, however, Moses took his destiny into his own hands. One day, he saw an Egyptian mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave, and his anger flared. As retribution, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. When Pharaoh heard of his crime, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled into the desert to the land of Midian, where he married, had children, became a shepherd, and remained for four long decades until God confronted him in the burning bush.
Moses spent 14,600 days on the backside of a desert. There must have been at least a few occasions when, sitting on a rock, sand in his sandals, watching over his flock, he wondered, “How in the world did I wind up here?” Moses could have devalued that season and written off all those days as meaningless. Although the Bible doesn’t say much about what Moses did during those forty years, it’s clear he spent the season honoring God because when God “suddenly” showed up on day 14,601 in a burning bush, Moses was ready to respond, and in so doing, changed the course of history for the then-known world!
What if Moses had given up? The people of Israel would have remained oppressed, perhaps for generations, until God could raise up another person to complete the task destined for Moses.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
What are you waiting for? Have you given up?
Or are you waiting for God to confront you?