Moses was a man with time on his hands. But such was not always the case. Once, he was a prince of Egypt. As such, he occupied his time with experiences and opportunities that only being in such a position can afford.
Added to the privileges associated with being part of Egyptian royalty was the unique heritage that belonged to Moses. Though he was a prince of Egypt, he was also the son of a slave. Through the providence of God, not only had his life been spared, but he had been adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, while having his own mother as his nurse.
Afforded the opportunity to be educated by the wisest men in Egypt, along with receiving instruction from his own mother about the Lord, his spiritual heritage as a Hebrew, and being told time and again the miraculous story of how God providentially spared his life, Moses grew up with a sense of divine destiny about him.
In fact, Moses developed an awareness that God had a special plan for his life, which involved seeing his Hebrew brothers set free from Egyptian slavery.
Somehow, however, things just hadn't worked out as Moses had envisioned. And now, rather than fulfilling some great destiny, he found himself, instead, tending his father-in-1aw's sheep on the backside of the desert! Moses now found life to be a purposeless,
aimless existence.
Too many of God's people today are like Moses was there in the land of Midian. They have been saved from eternal death in a miraculous manner. They have been adopted as a son or daughter of the King of heaven Himself! They have been miraculously delivered by God and uniquely equipped by God for a special purpose. Yet, despite all of this, they find themselves on the backside of a spiritual desert, wandering aimlessly through life.
Perhaps that's where you are today - wandering aimlessly through a spiritual desert, wondering if God has more in mind for you than what you're presently experiencing. Well I have good news for you today! God did save you with a purpose in mind. His desire is for you to live your life with a sense of divine destiny - to live your life with a sense of eternal purpose. And He is at work in your life, even there in the desert. God's voice call to us in times of aimlessness.
What is He wanting to say to us when we find ourselves wandering in the spiritual desert?
1. God Wants You To Acknowledge His Presence - vs. 1-4
The presence of God was made known to Moses through a bush that burned. Now, it was not unusual for dried up bushes to burst aflame in the hot desert sun. This was something the Moses had probably grown accustomed to as he spent time in the desert. But this burning bush was not consumed by the flame (vs.2b-3) and that’s what made Moses turn aside and pay attention. There’s a lesson here concerning God's working in our lives that we must not miss:
God often works through ordinary things to accomplish extraordinary tasks; and He often uses
ordinary means to deliver His extraordinary message.
When it comes to God speaking to me in a time of aimlessness, I need to realize that He will often speak to me through ordinary means. Not realizing this is what keeps so many wandering in the spiritual desert. They are looking for God’s presence to be manifested in some miraculous, extraordinary, supernatural, other-worldly fashion, while God is literally shouting to them through ordinary people and things.
Henry Blackaby, in his book, Experiencing God, shares what he refers to as the seven realities of experiencing God. The first four of these seven realities are:
1) God is always at work around you.
2) God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3) God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4) God speaks by His Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and His people to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
The Bible, prayer, circumstances, people - God speaks through these means. Don’t miss the call of God to you by virtue of looking for Him to speak in some miraculous, extraordinary, supernatural, other-worldly fashion. Instead, look for His presence to be made known to you in common, ordinary, everyday ways! And when you suspect that God is speaking, like Moses, turn aside from what you are doing and acknowledge His presence!
2. God Wants You To Recognize His Preeminence - vs. 5-6
In verse 5, God told Moses “Do not come any closer.” It is important to note that God was not forbidding Moses from approaching Him, but that He was instructing Moses on how to approach Him. Moses could not approach his relationship with God in a casual manner. He was not to approach God in the same way he might approach anyone else.
Our relationship with God is like any relationship I might have with anyone else in that it is personal.
Our relationship with God is unlike any relationship I might have with anyone else in that it is to be preeminent!
There are two lessons for us to learn about our relationship with God from the fact that Moses was told to remove his sandals from his feet.
A. Rejection of whatever separates from God. Just as Moses’ sandals were literally between him and the ground that had been made holy by God’s presence, often, things, even common things, can be allowed to come between us and God.
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” - Hebrews 12:1b (NIV)
B. Readiness to give service to God. In telling Moses to remove his sandals from his feet, God was telling him to take on a servant’s role, for servants customarily were barefoot. If we are going to live with a sense of divine purpose, we also must be willing to take on a servant’s role and seek to be obedient to the commands of our King.
This brings us to a consideration of the next two spiritual realities of Experiencing God:
5) God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6) You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
This is another reason many are wandering aimlessly in the spiritual desert - at some point they have either refused to give up something for God or take up something for God. So, how do I escape the aimlessess of the spiritual desert? By recognizing the preeminence of God by being willing to give up whatever He calls me to give up and by being willing to take on whatever He calls me to take on!
3. God Wants You To Surrender To His Plan - Vs. 7-10
Acknowledging God’s presence puts you in a position to hear His voice; recognizing His preeminence puts you in a position to receive His direction; and surrendering to His plan puts you in a position to live with a sense of divine purpose. This brings us to the last of the seven spiritual realities of Experiencing God:
7) You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.
God told Moses, “Here’s what I am about to do, and I want you to be a part of it!” God called Moses to surrender to His plan - to not only join Him in doing His work, but to be willing to do God’s work in God’s way, in God’s timing. Moses ended up in the desert because He tried to accomplish God’s purpose, but did not wait on God to show Him how to do it or when.
“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” - Acts 7:23-25 (NIV)
Conclusion: How can I be delivered from aimlessly wandering in the spiritual desert?
1. Look for your “burning bush.” How might God be speaking to you? What might He be saying through your circumstances, or His Word, prayer, or His people, that you need to respond to?
2. Take off your “sandals.” What in you life have you allowed to come between you and God? Is God calling you to serve Him? Obey!
3. Quit “killing Egyptians.” Quit trying to do things your way and surrender to doing things God’s way.
Whatever the cause of our aimlessness, like Moses, we can return to the place of purposeful living, no matter how long we’ve been wandering aimlessly in the spiritual desert (Acts 7:34 - “I will send you back to Egypt!”).
