The Main Business

So here's this guy Moses wandering in the desert, leading his sheep from one tumbleweed to another along paths worn hard by years of hooves and heat. This is not unfamiliar territory. The man is eighty years old. Shepherding has been his life for forty years, ever since he tried to play hero and got a life lesson in humility.

Forty years he and his sheep have climbed this mountain. Forty years they sought out the muted greens against the wilted browns and beiges of the desert. They know every boulder, every meager spot of shade, every drop of water. There is nothing new under the sun and they know about life under the sun. Nothing new, until today.

There, just over there, on the ledge, a bush, dessicated by wind, devoid of life, burns. Nothing new. Happens all the time. An intense ray of sun reflected by a broken piece of quartz. Careless spark from a travelers fire. Burning bush? Not new. Keep walking. Tend the sheep. Mind your business. Until today.

Today, this bush is different. This is new. The fire does not consume the bush. This bush, this burning but not burning up bush calls for an investigation, a closer look, a detailed analysis. This bush calls for more than just a casual glance from a seasoned shepherd engrossed in the ordinary routine of living.

Moses turned aside. He made an adjustment to his direction. He refocused his attention. He altered his priorities. He assumed a different position relative to his preconceptions. And for it, his life would never be the same.

"When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!'" (Exodus 3:4, ESV). When Moses gave his attention to God, God gave his attention to Moses.

How often have we longed for an exchange like this, for God to speak, to reveal himself as He is, to change our lives? How often have we longed for the Almighty to show up with power and purpose, with meaning and mission? We have pined for him, longed for him, thirsted for him, and done without day after day, soon relegating such personal interaction to the pages of ancient history. The wise man of Proverbs diagnoses our condition: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick."

Heart sick? There's a cure.

Missing God? Wishing for greater intimacy? Wanting more than you have of Spirit and grace? Take your cue from Moses. "Turn aside." The author of Hebrews says it like this, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession" (Hebrews 3:1, ESV). The word "consider" here is the same word Stephen uses to describe Moses' "turning aside" as he recounts the event in Acts 7:31. When Moses "considered" the burning bush, he was then in an environment prepared to hear the voice of God.

Could it be that the reason we do not hear from God is that we take so little time to "consider Jesus?" Is it not true that work and meetings and hockey and relationships and children and deadlines and PTA and movies and bathroom makeovers and sick dogs and gas prices and recessions and worry and plans and possibilities and problems and . . . well, you get the picture. Could it be that tending too many sheep in the ordinary robs us of the opportunity to encounter God in the extraordinary? Could it be that business in the natural drains our energy for experiences in the supernatural?

Turn aside. Consider Jesus. Adjust your direction. Reorder your priorities. Reform your preconceptions. Indulge your curiosity. Give license to your interest. Focus your attention upon Jesus, and find that his attention has been focused on you all along. He has been waiting in the burning bush to call your name.

He is not absent, merely unseen and unheard through the fog and din of everday business. We make living our main business rather than Life our main business, and we pay for it in silence, distance, and disappointment. But all that can change when we reassert our hearts to consider Jesus.

Now, someone will ask, "How can I do this?" The answer to that question will be unique to each of us, but here are a couple ideas. First, either use the time you have or make more time just to consider Jesus. If you can't carve fifteen minutes out the twenty four hours in a day, then you'll have to locate the vacant time slots in your day and use them. Look for the untapped time in your day. You have more of it than you realize. Use time when you're driving alone, or using Facebook, or the kids are napping, or you're in the bathroom. Use the time you have to consider Jesus.

Use the places that surround you as temples for worship. Sitting on the deck in the sun. Waiting for the dryer at the laundromat. Sitting alone in the breakroom. Walking on the beach. Riding to the 31st floor in an elevator. Make use of the spaces that surround you.

Carry the word with you. We know Jesus through two means: the word of God and the Spirit of God. Keep a verse card in your shirt pocket or purse. Better yet, keep a small New Testament in your jacket or purse, or in the car, someplace in the places that surround you so you can take advantage of the time you have.

I expect that Moses spent more than fifteen minutes with God, and our word "consider" implies an greater investment of time and effort than fifteen minutes might provide, but fifteen minutes is an arbitrary starting point. The heart issue here is that we treat "consider Jesus" as more than merely acknowledging his existence, but in the practical activity of investigating his person as a normal, natural part of our relationship with him.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12, ESV). You want to hear from God, then "turn aside" and make hearing him the main business.