“And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see”

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Exodus 3:1 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.”

Exodus 3:2 “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

Exodus 3:3 “And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

Exodus 3:4 “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”

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Has God ever called out to you? Not someone else… you.

Have you ever heard his voice? Do you know his voice? … Do you even know what I’m talking about?

For many people, they’ve never had this personal experience that Moses had in Exodus 3.

And it’s not they haven’t come across a burning bush somewhere sometime in their life, it’s just that they never “turned aside” to see like Moses did.

If you waste your opportunity in life, fail to invest in the kingdom of God at all, and end up in hell… it won’t be because God didn’t put great sights in your life to turn aside and see… it’s that you were too busy, too occupied, too important, too self righteous, too proud, too hard hearted, too satisfied in sin.

There’s quite a backstory to this moment in Moses’ life, he was born into slavery in Egypt, and miraculously delivered at a time when many male babies were getting tossed in the river at the command of a king called Pharaoh.

Moses enjoyed the hand of God in his life unseen behind the scenes, like we all do but often thanklessly… and one day at forty years old his heart stirred when he saw an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew.

Moses’ plans to step up and get involved in helping his people didn’t work out like he hoped! … and there was a sequence of events that ended up with him being rejected by both Egypt and Israel, on the run and far from home for forty years.

From there it all seemed like a failure, life over, until one day Moses led his father in law’s sheep to the backside of a desert looking for greener pastures… and it was here that God brought a burning bush along his path in life.

Maybe you’re on the backside of a long journey to date in life, navigating the wilderness of this world, and at the most unexpected of times, God is going to bring a burning bush along your path for you to turn aside to see.

This was Moses’ turning point. Has there ever been a turning point in your life? Repentance is the turning point of every child of God. Repentance is turning to God… it’s leaving the old life behind, it’s when you’re finally done with sin and darkness and corruption of this world, leaving it for something more.

Because this was something unusual, something worth investigating for Moses… something more in life that you can only find in Jesus Christ.

But it did require turning aside… but for now, maybe you’ve still got no time, maybe you don’t want to turn aside, you’re happy and full still. God is not in your mind, heart, plans or life. Many people in church are also in this case.

The Bible says in Proverbs 1 that

“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:”
“She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,”

“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?”

“Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”

Did you know wisdom is calling out to you? But have you ever turned aside to see the burning bush God put in your life?

I don’t know what the burning bush will be like for you. It could just be a Christian on fire for God who’s life God is going to use to touch yours. Born again Bible believing Christians are quite a sight these days, both in rarity, and peculiarity no doubt.

But is your ear so deaf to God, that you cannot hear? Is your eye so blind to God, that you cannot see? Is your heart so determined in its hardness to God, that you cannot turn aside? Is your belly so full of sin, that you have no hunger for God?

If that is the case, you’ll still never heard God call you by name. And you’ll never know what a privilege it is to know God, but more importantly be known by God in this world out of all the masses “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?”

Would you like Taylor Swift to know who you are? Would you like President Trump to know who you are? What hero would you just love to mention you once or even acknowledge your existence, and you have that opportunity with God himself!

And so hopefully one day you turn aside to see God’s great sight in Christ for yourself. The greatest sight in the world is our Saviour who died on the cross, but was not consumed by death, he rose from the dead… that’s worth turning aside to see, a God who will die for people that hate him.

No, not many ever turn aside at this great sight… but it can be you. Not many are and do, but it can be you. It’ll happen in the backside of your spiritual desert, where no one else is around, where no one else can see… truly looking for more, truly ready to see and hear Christ, that’s where God will meet you.

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