GOD'S RETIREMENT PLAN

God’s Retirement Plan

The angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in flames of fire from within a bush.

Exodus 3:2

READ EXODUS 3:1–10

Archaeologist Dr. Warwick Rodwell was preparing to retire when he made an extraordinary discovery at Lichfield Cathedral in England. As builders carefully excavated part of the floor of the church to make way for a retractable base, they discovered a sculpture of the archangel Gabriel, thought to be 1,200 years old. Dr. Rodwell’s retirement plans were put on hold as his find launched him into an exciting and busy new season.

Moses was eighty years old when he made a fiery discovery that would forever alter his life. Though the adopted son of an Egyptian princess, he never forgot his Hebrew lineage and raged at the injustice he witnessed against his kinsmen (Exodus 2:11-12). When Pharaoh learned that Moses had killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, he planned to have him killed, forcing Moses to flee to Midian, where he settled (vv. 13-15).

Forty years later, when he was eighty, Moses was tending his father-in-law’s flock when “the 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” (3:2). In that moment, God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (vv. 3-22).

At this moment in your life, what might God be calling you to do for His greater purpose? What new plans has He placed in your path?

By Ruth O’Reilly-Smith

REFLECT & PRAY

Holy God, be Lord of all my days as I surrender them to You afresh.

What do you learn from Moses and his calling from God? Why is it vital to be open to something new He’s doing in your life?

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INSIGHT

God tells Moses to remove his shoes because “the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). What made that ground holy? God’s presence. It’s the same presence that made the holy of holies in both the tabernacle and the temple holy and led to restrictions on entering it (Leviticus 16:2-3). J.R. Hudberg