By Deborah Lovett:
Image: Michal Marcol/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A few years ago I spoke for a Garden Party–Women’s Kickoff dinner and I ended up finding God in a burning bush!
Just moments before the guests started pouring into the banquet hall, low and behold their Garden Party was interrupted when a beautiful dried floral hydrangea bush went up in flames!
The harpist, with a sense of humor, commented she didn’t know the song, “When smoke gets in your eyes,” as the women rushed the flaming bush out the door. Others fanned billowy clouds of smoke from the building doors, as the smoke alarm boomed an outlandish sound. Unfortunately, the candle that had brought such a warm glow to the atmosphere also caused quite a disturbance by being placed too close for comfort.
I have pondered and reflected on this burning bush scenario. Consider this:
• Are we finding God in the midst of our circumstances? Does He sometimes make us uncomfortable? And is that necessarily a bad thing, to be convicted? Is our comfort His highest goal, or our character for His glory and our relationship for His love?
• Do we notice things like a burning bush as God’s presence, or only as a problem to be dealt with? If all things work to the good of those who love Him, couldn’t disturbances in our lives actually be proof of His presence drawing us nearer?
Exodus 3:2,3: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight-why the bush does not burn up.”
• The last thing I thought about was rather ironic. The theme of that event was “Fill my Bucket, Lord.” Don’t we all have buckets that need filled? Perhaps God sent us a message that night: When the fire comes–and it will–make sure your bucket is filled with the Living Water, so you will be ready to be poured out where needed.
Ask yourself today if you can say, “It is well with my soul in the midst of the fire.” You can find God in the midst of your trials, even if that means finding God in a burning bush.
©Deborah Lovett (www.DeborahLovett.com) Deborah is an author, speaker, blogger and Christ follower and a regular contributor to Finding God Daily.
Enjoy this clip with the burning bush from the original movie (1956) The Ten Commandments, produced by Cecil B. DeMille, with Charlton Heston as Moses:
