"Moses led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 'I will go over and see this strange sight-why the bush does not burn up.' When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' And Moses said, 'Here I am.' 'Do not come any closer,'God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground'." Exodus 3:1-5
Let me tell you what God is after: undivided attention.
That's what the burning bush is all about. God tells Moses to take off his sandals. Why? For starters, it's one way to get Moses to stand still.
In his book, Anam Cara, John O' Donohue's tells a story about an African explorer who hired some native Africans to help carry his equipment through the jungle. They didn't stop for three days. At the end of the third day, these hired hands stopped and absolutely refused to move on. The explorer asked why and one of the African natives explained, We have moved too quickly to reach here; now we need to wait to give our souls a chance to catch up with us.
Most of us tend to move too quickly to get to where we want to go. We keep running without reflecting enough; we keep moving without meditating enough. We so need to stand still and let our souls catch up with us! We need to take off our sandals long enough to realize that we're standing on holy ground.
Every year I go on a three-day Personal Retreat, where I wait on the Lord to bring me back to the burning bushes in my life. One of the things I do in such times is to re-visit those moments and seasons where the Lord spoke to me specifically; times where it all began for me. I go back to the place of original calling.
Did Jesus ever go back to Cana where He performed his first miracle? Did Peter ever row out to that spot on the Sea of Galilee where he walked on water? Did Zacchaeus ever go back to the sycamore tree he climbed to catch his first glimpse of Jesus? Did Lazarus ever revisit the tomb where he was buried for four days? Did Paul ever revisit the spot on the road to Damascus where he was knocked off his high horse? Did Abraham ever return to Mount Moriah where God provided a ram in the thicket? Did the paralyzed man ever climb up on the rooftop where his four friends had lowered him down?
I don't know the answer to all of those questions, but I think one key to overcoming habituation is going back to ground zero. It's returning to the burning bushes-those places where you have met God. I know that most of us have never experienced anything as dramatic as a burning bush. But do you remember when you first became conscious of God's presence? Is there a moment where the grace of God overwhelmed you? Are there places and experiences where God has revealed something to you? Were there moments where you heard God so clearly, it changed the course of your life? We need to revisit those altars where God has done something of spiritual significance in our lives.
It's so easy to get all wrapped up doing things for God that you forget that it's really all about what God has done for us. C.S. Lewis said, We need to be reminded more than instructed. That's why we celebrate communion. That's why we build altars.
Dr. Karl Barth was one of the most brilliant intellectuals of the 20th century. He wrote countless volumes on life and faith. Millions of pastors and missionaries have been influenced by his theological writings. A reporter once asked Barth if he could summarize his greatest theological discovery. Karl Barth thought for a moment and said, Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.
