Daily Affirmations - Day 3 - In This Place - The Far Side of the Wilderness
- Alisa B.
- 8 hours ago
- 2 min read
Day 3: The far side of the wilderness
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There 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 (Exodus 3:1-2).
Our Father, sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent God, from Your throne in heaven, You view the ends of the earth and see everything under the heavens (Job 28:24).
You dwell in a high and holy place, it is true (Isaiah 57:15), but from the beginning it was Your intent to tabernacle with humans, to dwell with them, and be their God (Revelation 21:3). And although we became separated from You by a great gulf of sin and disobedience; and although we daily wrestle with the dire consequences of that sin and separation, You still desire to draw us back to Yourself.
You have ordained, planned, and guided human existence and history in such a way as to have humans seek You and perhaps reach out for You and find You, though You are not far from any of us. For in You we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:26-28).
In all of the circumstances of our lives, in our responses, and in our choices we can seek You and find You. Even when, like Moses, our mistakes, our lapses, our failures, our wrongs cause us to run— to seek distance, escape, and anonymity, we cannot possibly escape Your Spirit, or flee from Your presence (Psalm 139:7).
You are there even in the far wilderness experiences of life, when we are cut off, isolated, ostracized—strangers in a strange land (Exodus 2:22)— separated in mind or materiality from community, comfort, and everything that is firm and familiar. And You descend into our ordinary with Your extraordinary presence, power and purpose.
God of the burning bush, who alone can thoroughly burn but not consume, lead us to Your holy mountain. Open our eyes, open our spirits to look, to seek, to inquire. Teach us to know that even when we wander, lost, lonely, and confused into the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1 - KJV), God is in this place.
