Turning Aside

God has something He wants to show you.

How do I know this? Because God has something He wants to say to each and every one of us. We see this principle at play in the story of Moses in Exodus 3. At this point in his life, Moses is a murderer living on the backside of the desert. He’s not a poster child for righteousness, but we see that God has something to say to Moses in Exodus 3:1-4:

“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. 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. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Regardless of his low status and shady past, the Lord had something specific to say to Moses. The same is true for you and I. No matter what we’ve done or where we are right now—no matter how much of a priority God has been in our lives lately—He wants to commune with us. He wants to speak purpose and identity over us. He wants to show us something amazing.

Notice what Moses did when he saw the bush, because it’s the key to clearly hearing God’s voice in our day-to-day lives: “Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight.’” Other translations use the phrase “turn aside.”

A huge part of us being empowered and encouraged when we hear the voice of God is dependent upon us turning aside to tune in to what God wants to say. Moses was just going about his regular day, shepherding sheep. Similarly, you and I have a laundry list of things we have to do today—those lists of things are always there. But hearing the voice of God is often contingent upon stopping the monotony of the list—returning emails, running errands, watching shows, scrolling through social media—in order to turn aside and to focus on the Lord.

He wants to speak to you today, just like He wanted to speak to Moses. The question isn’t whether God’s speaking—it’s whether we will turn aside and soak in His presence.