Have You Seen the Smoke?

This summer has been filled with odd weather. Forest fires in Canada have created hazy, smoke-filled days all over the eastern United States. I cannot remember a time when smoke has traveled this far and plagued us for so long. The smoke has drifted hundreds of miles and continues to lay across our land.

When Moses was tending sheep in the desert, an odd sight caught his attention. Exodus 3:2 tells us about a bush that didn’t burn up. God Himself spoke from the burning bush, and Moses realized he had come across something far grander than it appeared. God told Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham.” (v. 6) God was about to lead an enslaved people to freedom and show them their true identity as His children. (v. 10)

God made a promise to Abraham, some 600 years earlier. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3) The Israelites escaping from Egypt was one step in that blessing. God was planning to rescue His creation through the Messiah, Abraham’s descendant. God’s call to Moses on the mountain is an example of how God works. He often sends us to the desert for a season of training. Joseph served in the wilderness of slavery before becoming God’s instrument of rescue. Elijah and Paul spent time in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before starting His ministry.

Today, God offers this same rescue to everyone. Christ came to die for the sins of the whole world. By faith in Christ, we too can become children of the living God. Have you seen the smoke? Have you been to the desert? Are you ready to be a child of our living God?

Prayer – Father, we thank you for being our God and accessible to each of us. We thank you for sending us your only Son and allowing us to be your children. Amen.

Exodus 3:10 – “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images by Ahmer Kalam & Gabriel Baranski, courtesy of Unsplash