Series: Flowers in the Desert
Psalm 34:4 ESV
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
Exodus 3:1-12 MSG
Acts 9:3-6 ESV
When we come to realize that experiencing God is the ultimate path to deliverance from everything we fear we begin to seek to uncover layers of misconception the world throws at us each and every day.
We begin to desire and to seek out the rare flowers in the desert (metaphorically speaking) that God has created in a dry and dusty land. The Blackfoot Daisy has been known to thrive by itself in the desert, but man is a relational being. Man seeks purpose.
The issue we often face is that the world does not readily recognize the importance of the search for purpose.
Even within the realm of everything the world recognizes as being part of the “doing” we are called to, we can miss the experience of “being” in God.
In my fourteenth year the Spirit came upon me when I attended a Billy Graham Crusade at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. From that night on, I knew seeking what is holy and set apart through the Spirit of God was what God offered.
Psalm 34:4 tells us, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
Many of us have had similar experiences when we have sought the Lord.
David the Shepherd boy understood.
David looked for God and when he looked he found God.
Paul knew that when he wrote his final letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7 telling him, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
When we seek God we find power and love and self-control through the Spirit and we are delivered from fear.
Moses understood and we are told in Exodus 3:1-12,
“Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush. He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.
Moses said, “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this! Amazing! Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”
God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Yes? I’m right here!”
God said, “Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You’re standing on holy ground.”
Then he said, “I am the God of your father: The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
“The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
“I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”
God saw the heart of Moses and knew he was the one who would lead Israel out of Egypt.
Moses stopped and turn when he saw the bush that burned but did not burn up. Moses turned.
He looked and listened.
Saul the Pharisee who had dedicated his life to studying the Old Testament scriptures and who believed his mission in life was to stop the people of the Way of Jesus learned the truth of God’s plan on the road to Damascus. In Acts 9:3-6 the light of Jesus appeared to Saul (later called Paul) and we learn, “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
Saul (Paul) stopped when he saw the light and he turned.
So, going back to September, 1967. Even though I was young and totally unaware that what was about to happen would change my life forever, the Spirit God swept through my soul when I entered Arrowhead Stadium. Leading up to that night all I knew was that I HAD to be at Arrowhead Stadium that night. I do not remember any of my friends going on the bus that night and my parents didn’t go on the church bus. As I recall I sat by myself on the bus.
God gave me the desire to go. God paved the way. God had a plan.
God sees your heart.
God calls to you day and night.
Ask. Watch for the bush. Look for the light. Wait for the bus to come and when it comes, get ON the bus.
Spiritual Practice: Watch
Watch and wait for God.
In God, Deborah
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