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God has been showing up. The question is — have you been paying attention?
Moses wasn't at a church service when God showed up. He wasn't in a seminary classroom or at a worship conference. He was on a mountain — a desolate, dry, ordinary mountain — doing somebody else's work, tending somebody else's sheep, living what felt like somebody else's life.
And right there, in the middle of the most unremarkable season of his existence, God set a bush on fire.
That's where Exodus 3 picks up. And if you read it too fast, you might miss the sequence that changes everything.
The Bible says the bush was already burning when Moses arrived. The angel of the Lord was already in it. God was already present. Already there. Already waiting. But here's what stops you cold — God didn't speak until verse four. The bush had been burning. The presence had been there. And God stayed silent.
Why? Because God was watching for something first.
Exodus 3:3 in the King James Version says Moses said to himself, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." That decision — that single, deliberate turn — is what triggered verse four. "When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush."
God was waiting on the turn.
The Hebrew word for "turn aside" means to step off the road you're on. To deviate from your routine. Moses had somewhere to be. He had sheep to feed, a schedule to keep, a whole life to manage. And in the middle of all of that, he made one decision: I'm going to stop what I'm doing and look at what God is doing.
That one decision changed the course of human history. Not just Moses's story — Israel's story, the Exodus, the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, the promised land. All of it traces back to one person who stopped and looked at a bush.
So here's the question Pastor Terrence placed on the table that Sunday, and it's one worth sitting with all week: How many burning bushes have you walked past?
How many times has God been right there — present, moving, waiting — and your schedule didn't have room? Not because you were doing something wrong. Moses wasn't doing anything wrong. He was being responsible. He was showing up. But the busyness of a responsible life can make you miss the sacred if you're not watching for it.
And here's what makes this even more striking — God didn't choose a cedar tree or a sequoia to show up in. He chose a thorn bush. A common, overlooked, step-over-it plant that most people never give a second glance. God deliberately used something ordinary, something understated, something the world would walk right past.
"Eyes Wide Open is not just our church name. It's a theological posture. It means I'm paying attention. It means I turn aside when something holy catches my eye." — Pastor Terrence Sims
That's the invitation in this text. Not to have everything figured out. Not to have arrived at some elevated spiritual state. Just to be attentive enough to notice when God is doing something and be willing to step off your routine long enough to look.
Because God is still setting bushes on fire. In your ordinary moments, in the middle of your regular week, in the places and people you might be tempted to overlook. The presence is already there. The fire is already burning.
The only question is whether you'll turn aside to see it.
And when you do — when you make that one decision to stop, look, and pay attention — don't be surprised when you hear your name.
Reflect on This
Where in your life right now might God be trying to get your attention through something ordinary that you've been too busy to notice? What would it look like this week to deliberately "turn aside" from your routine and check for what God is doing?
Ready to grow in your revelation of God?
