There are few things in the world that would get me up in the middle of the night. I don’t have the energy to stay up late anymore. A byproduct of being older, being weaker, and being more responsible. But, an image keeps messing with my head and keeps me from resting tonight. Moses and myself have had an off-and-on relationship over the last few years. I keep running into him from time to time, so that he can impart some perspective on life and my place in it. The image I keep having is one of the burning bush. God infused (I may use this word repeatedly, and I apologise for it) Himself into the bush. An ordinary bush. Nothing separated it from other bushes, rocks, trees, plants, etc. It was only special and noteworthy because in the midst of its reality, God entered into it. The thing actually burned, and was not consumed. Suddenly the bush, was much more than a bush. Moses’ reaction to it being evidence, that something was different about this one. Hehe. Now, here’s the funny thing. Moses freaked out about the bush, but it wasn’t until God Himself spoke, did he have any idea what was going on. It’s not like he looked at the flames on the bush and said to himself, “That must be God, Jehovah!”

We do that so many times in our lives, it’s silly to think about it. We have it in our heads that we would like to do God’s will. Be able to serve Him by being the vessel… the means, the vehicle. But, we tend to want to have people look at us and say, “wow! that must be from God” without us actually allowing God to speak to someone through our circumstances, happenstances, whatever… We do so many weird and strange things to get the attention of people so that they might see Christ within us… but the bush didn’t scream out and say, “Hey, look at me… God is inside of me! God wants to talk to you… hold on a sec… lemme get Him over here, and…. OK! Here you go.” The most effective witness is one who doesn’t really have anything active tied in with His purposes, except to be willing to be used.

When God infused Himself into the bush, the bush didn’t stop being a bush. Didn’t stop doing bush-type things. The essence of the bush, didn’t change at all. God, did something to draw someone to the bush, and then spoke… not through the bush, but through the existence of God’s mysterious ways surrounding the bush. Moses’ didn’t need to be converted, but God needed to get his attention. God’s also did not stop being God from the flame on the bush. He didn’t change. His essence wasn’t affected by what He was doing with the bush…. so it could have been ANYTHING in the area that He could have used. It is interesting to me to think about such things.

Most people when they see another’s face. That’s all they see. They see the clothes, the face, the body-type. Rarely do they ever get past the visual to encounter something deeper. If Moses had only seen the fire, and hadn’t waited on the voice of God, it would have been more like what we do as people. We treat homeless people holding signs on the side of the road, like most people would have after seeing a bush on fire….. we usually see the sign, rarely the face, and almost never see the soul, the essence.

God infused Himself into creation by becoming Christ. He transformed Himself into a man. Christ infused Himself into those that believe and sent us out. He transformed us into the people we’re supposed to be. We’re supposed to infuse ourselves into His creation to infuse God into it… transforming it into His likeness. How do we do that if we don’t allow ourselves to be used, without being consumed… allow ourselves to be used, without drawing attention to our works, our deeds, our actions… allow His will be done, by His impetus not our own.

It’s something that haunts me when I think about it. How often we just get in His way by trying to do His will…

I’ve been more often in the past, used up, instead of used without being consumed. It’s just my honest reaction right now. I’m not quite sure if I believe what I feel at the moment, being that it’s 4 in the freaking morning.