“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.” – Exodus 3:4
The ordinary and mundane will not attract the attention of people. People don’t travel thousands of miles to see a streetlight; but they will see the Northern Lights. You’re not going to pay hundreds of dollars to visit a shopping mall, but you might visit the Grand Canyon. These things are extraordinary, they were created that way. When we are converted and sanctified, God has placed in us an extraordinary salvation, and if we let our light shine it will attract.
Perhaps nothing is more ordinary than shrubbery, especially in the wilderness. A bush has no extraordinary qualities. It is not what you would call majestic or stunning. It is the mascot of ordinary and average. At the very best a bush is there to accent or edify something else, like a house or an office building. When you first begin reading in Genesis chapter three you find that Moses (the eventual leader of the Jews) is living his everyday life. At this point he has settled down, married, and is working for his father-in-law tending sheep. One particular day, whilst going about his day-to-day business, he comes across something that is supposed to be ordinary, behaving extraordinary. It is a bush on fire, yet the fire does not consume the bush. The bush just burns and burns. This extraordinary sight catches his attention and draws him out of his day to day “task list” (if you will). Then, the Lord calls to him out of the flaming bush. God drew him, called him, and instructed him through the use of the ordinary bush that was made extraordinary. That which was created ordinary was ordained by fire to be extraordinary, for God’s glory. We live in a busy age, and with all the devices of distraction offered it would seem that the competition for attention has never been higher. We ask ourselves (I hope) how do we reach our co-worker, friend, neighbor, etc.? How do we witness in the day to day and get their attention? As a burning bush. Whether or not we were created extraordinary means nothing, God can take the essence of ordinary and make something extraordinary out of it. When you are consumed with the fire of God for God, and it engulfs your life: your lifestyle, speech, and behavior will become a catalyst where God can speak and draw men and women to himself. It was the ordinary behaving extraordinary that jerked Moses out of the fog of living and caused him to really listen to God. When you love those that curse you, bless God in times of trouble, and consistently live the sold out, sanctified, Christian life. That is a life God will use and speak through. I heard a preacher say recently: “God is not looking for new methods, he is looking for new men.” Men and women who are willing to be made new by God Almighty and abandoned to His will and not their own.
God help us to remember that you are on the throne of all creation, and you can make something beautiful out of our lives. Lord ignite us with an everlasting fire within that will allow you to call to the hearts of men and women. Let us live, preach, and testify of a: real, genuine, extraordinary salvation that is the government of our lives and the hope of our soul; and may the glory and righteousness of your Son Jesus consume us to make us lights unto the world, a vessel from which you can speak. Father help us to live and love with an extraordinary salvation within, the salvation brought by your son Jesus Christ.
