the Bush that Caused the Wait

I seem to talk a lot about waiting. I’m not sure why, but I know that it’s a vital part of being a Child of God as He tells us time and time again… WAIT. WAIT for Me to move. WAIT for Me to show you. WAIT before you jump to one side or another…He seems to really like the word WAIT.

Lately here around the Oak Leaf Lounge, we’ve been talking a lot about waiting. Not to do one thing or another, but to watch God move in our own lives and ministry. A while back He gave me the story of Moses in Exodus 3… you know, the burning bush, but the bush doesn’t burn up and the bush talks to him… if that isn’t enough, the Lord is speaking to Moses through this bush and all he can seem to say is how he’s a terrible candidate for leading God’s people out of slavery from Egypt.

I sit back and wonder if maybe it’s a little bit because Moses didn’t want THAT particular job. We see in the end of that chapter and chapter four, a dialogue between them with Moses telling God that there might be a better person, a better way to go about it all; his reasoning every single time, is disbelief that he, Moses, could actually do the job. Mind you, he’s talking to a bush… that’s on fire… but not burning up…

The wait came between the time of the burning bush experience to the actual leading of the people. Moses had to go back home and get his crew, then head to Egypt. Would anyone ever believe him if he let them know what he was doing? Can you imagine the talks you would be having with yourself in your mind as you walked down those dry, dusty paths? Something like: ‘did that really happen?’ or ‘maybe it was a dream; maybe I’m dragging my entire family out here for nothing… maybe I’ve tended one sheep too many, and this is it…’.

You know, when God gives you a Word or an experience like that, the hard part is the waiting. Maybe I’m wrong in that, but each time I’ve been given specific scriptures to hang on to in my walk with Jesus, there has been a waiting period with them. The mind is an amazing, God-created thing, but it can easily turn as one has to wait. We doubt our self-worth, the idea that God would even want to show us something and much less, use us. We begin to wonder if there’s something we missed or didn’t do because it’s not happening like we want it to or thought it would… Sound Familiar?

Today, friends, take comfort in the God that spoke to Moses in the bush that didn’t burn up, the bush that caused the wait. God loved Moses enough to not only share His plan but see it through with him. He saw Moses in a field tending sheep. He sees you right where you are and loves you just as much. Like a shepherd He wants to guide you and I to places only He can take us.

‘Hungry’ written by Kathryn Scott is one of my favorite tunes to worship with and why I recorded it on Show Love, because of the very thought: ‘so I wait for You… Jesus, You’re all this heart is living for.’ So today, wait. Be faithful… you never know what will happen…