Riding to school in the mornings with my kids is such a special time! We love to sing and dance in the car (okay, there is no law that says we can’t dance in the car, only text! lol!) and we love talking. There are some precious moments during that twenty-minute drive to school. Caleb loves for me to tell him the story about us going to China to bring him home. Many times he asks me, “Tell me the story again, mommy!” A couple of weeks ago on the way to school, Caleb sat quietly in the back seat and then a few miles down I-40, he spoke up and said, “Mommy, how did God tell you to come and get me in China?” His little mind was just a-goin’! We have always shared with him that God told us that we had a child in China and that he led us straight to him to bring him home. Well, in the mind of a 7-year-old, he wondered how God told us that.
“God told us in our hearts.”, was my reply to him. I was able to share with him, on his level, that God speaks to us through reading his Word and praying. It is during that special time with God that he speaks to us. No, his voice was not audible, but it was very definitive in our hearts!
I think a lot of us would love for God to just speak out loud or send us that “burning bush” so we could know without a shadow of a doubt what his will is for our lives. During my quiet time with the Lord this past week, I was reading the story of Moses and the burning bush. Oh, how I love this story from Exodus! Here you have Moses who has left the life of Egyptian prince and is now a lowly shepherd in Midian. What a difference, huh? From royalty to rags, but what a life-changing event is taking place! God is beginning to mold and shape him into the leader that will free the Israelites from Pharaoh’s strong grasp.
I can just see this all go down! Here is Moses out with his flock and heads over to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) where he sees this bush on fire but is not actually burning up. He walks over to the bush, a little bewildered, and then he hears the voice of God say, “Moses, Moses!” I’m sure he is a little startled here, but he speaks up and says, “Here I am.” As you go through the passage of scripture here in Exodus 3, you see this conversation between Moses and God. The first thing Moses does is take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground. What an act of reverence to his God! God then begins to tell Moses of his plan to send him to go before Pharaoh to flee the Israelites. What does Moses do next? Exodus 3:11 “But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He expresses to God his inadequacies. How many times do we hear God speak to us but we tell God how inadequate we are? I know in my own life, I have done that many times. That is because we are inadequate all by ourselves, but when God calls us to a task, he will equip us to carry out his work! Praise God!
I love how God answers Moses in verse 12. “I will be with you.” What precious reassurance from Almighty God! As Moses continues to talk with God about his fears, I see this same thing in the way I feel a lot of times as God calls me to certain tasks in my life. He was so reluctant to go but God in each of area kept reassuring Moses that he would be with him. Even in chapter 4, verse 13, when Moses begged God, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” I know those exact words have come out of my mouth during a conversation with God too. God provided Moses with everything he needed to carry out his plan. The one verse that just brings total peace over me is chapter 3, verse 14, when Moses asks God who he should tell the Israelites that sent him and God replies, “I AM WHO I AM.”
We can look at this and say, “Well, Moses got to hear God speak audibly to him. I don’t know what God is telling me.” There are many accounts in scripture that show people sensing the Holy Spirit’s leading in their lives. I think of Paul as the Holy Spirit kept him and his companions from entering Asia to preach the word.
Acts 16:6 “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.”
We don’t know how the Holy Spirit led them to this. Was it inner-conviction or a vision? We don’t know. But what we do know is that the Holy Spirit is real and was given to Christians at Pentecost recorded in Acts. Even Moses recorded in Numbers 11:29 how he was looking forward to the day that all God’s people would experience the pouring out of God’s Spirit. But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to know God’s will for our lives. This is done as we engross ourselves in God’s Word and keep the communication with our Lord through prayer. What a priceless gift!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
God gave us his Word to equip us! Many times we seek our own plans before we go to our Father for direction and guidance. When God called Matt and me to adoption, I can tell you there were many conversations with God that expressed our inadequacies and fear of the unknown road. We gave God lots of different reasons that it would be too hard, too costly, too scary, etc., but as we dove heart and head into his Word and spent that time talking to him, his Spirit overwhelmed our hearts that this was HIS plan, not ours, and it was to be followed.
Yes, we all want the “burning bush” when it comes to getting an answer of God’s will in our lives. But God has given us so much more. We have his Word and the ability to come before Almighty God any time and any place to seek and know. Hallelujah! God is at work dear friends! Allow God to reveal his will to you through his Word and his Spirit and let him mold and shape you for the great things in store!
Dear Abba Father, my desire is to do your will no matter the cost. Lord, never let me grow complacent in my life that I oversee your plan. May I wake up each morning and give you first attention so that your plans become my plans and your will be done! I never want to give in to the practical. I want to grow which means that my comfort zone will be shaken and tested in ways that may be uncomfortable but oh, so necessary to continue the work ahead. My life is yours, Lord, and I desire a life, not of popularity or prestige, but of true peace in the center of your will. I love you sweet Father!
Your child,
Allison
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