Exodus 3:4 - When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
This verse came up in a Lenten devotional this morning and I was captivated by the sequence of events. God sees that Moses turns aside to see, which leads to God’s speech, and finally Moses’s speech of response. There is something important here for discipleship. First of all, there are burning bushes everywhere! They are usually in our peripheral vision, just hints of something unusual going on. But typically we have tunnel vision. Walking straight ahead, taking care of business. Moses turns aside to see, to notice something out of the corner of his eye. He alters his path. Isn’t that so critical a step into the fullness of life - to turn aside to see? It’s the first step to hearing! Once Moses's attention turns to the sacred, he was able to hear God calling his name; and a conversation that changes the world begins.