3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There 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. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

This story unfolds in a ‘backwater’ if ever there was one. To Moses, it must have felt like a place of obscurity and anonymity after the hustle and bustle of Egypt, and the power, the prestige, the colour of life in the palace. But God knew where he was and how to make contact with him. He was working out a great purpose in that barren, remote place. Who could have imagined?

It was another routine working day for Moses I assume. He was faithfully and diligently doing his job. But as he went about his business on this particular day he had a surprise encounter with the Lord. This may happen to any one of us, whether we are working inside the home or without. It may not necessarily be a spectacular meeting. Probably, more often than not, it won’t be. But we can regularly find God in small, ordinary things, if we have the eyes to see and hearts to respond.

There was no doubt nothing unusual about seeing a bush on fire in the desert. But what was extraordinary was the fact that it burned but did not burn up. That made it a ‘wonder.’ Even so, Moses had to respond, and he clearly did (3).

God has His own ways and means of getting our attention.

‘You never know what a day may bring, so keep your eyes and ears open to the leading of the Lord. Childlike curiosity completely changed Moses’ life.’ Warren W, Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.49