Take Note

“And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” (Ex 3:3 AV)

This reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah didn’t let anything pass his notice.  If there was something to notice, notice it he did.  Here, Moses witnesses an impossibility.  Or at least what should be an impossible event.  A bush is lit with fire, yet is not burned.  The scientist would have shown up and tried to explain away this phenomenon as a natural but rare event.  In fact, there are those who have done just that.  It doesn’t matter if it can be logically explained or scientifically determined.  The event still had the same effect.  Moses took notice.  He sat up and noted this should not be happening.  I think those whom God speaks to are more apt to notice the unusual or abnormal.  These are the saints who notice curiosities from the Word of God that others pass completely by.  Now, this can, and is overdone.  A curiosity may be just that.  But more times than not, the LORD is trying to speak to us through things that do not make sense or are not ordinary.  Determining just what that is, is the trick.  We might be tempted to make more of it than God intended.

Every now and again I get a question from a saint regarding something they noticed in the word of God that seemed out of place or didn’t make sense.  My sons call me every once in a while with such a question.  Recently, my son called me and asked why Abraham stated, in Genesis chapter 22, that God would provide a lamb yet it was a ram caught in the bushes.  Good question.  A curiosity.  Something of which someone should take note.  I have never studied that out and I am sure there is a plethora of explains.  The only difference between the lamb and ram which we know of is age.  A lamb could be male or female.  A ram is an adult male.  My answer was a lamb wouldn’t have horns that could get caught in the bushes.  Another might be there is no indication that Abraham infallibly prophesied.  Just because Abraham said lamb doesn’t require God to provide one.  There may be a deeper meaning here that others have contrived.  There probably is.  The point is, my son noticed a curiosity and through that curiosity, God will speak with him.

These curiosities can be overdone.  So, I must caution you not to make more of them than they are.  However, I have been reminded recently that a curiosity can also have a ripple effect and the curiosity may not be directly related to what God has for you.  It could be the curiosity was designed to stop you in your tracks and remove all distractions so that the voice of God could speak to you in an unrelated matter.  Curiosities are designed to get our attention.  Often, they are nothing more than that.  They are an attention grabber.  When the bush was burning, Moses went out of the way.  In other words, he was headed in the direction of tending to the cattle of his father-in-law and he turned out of the way to examine a curiosity.  Once he did, God was able to speak to him regarding his calling.  A burning bush had nothing to do with the substance of the call.  It was merely that which God used to get Moses’ attention so He could extend the call without competing with Moses’ sense of duty to his flock.  Noticing curiosities sent from God is a good thing.  They are often the knock at the door but not the person behind it.  So, when you sense something out of the ordinary, perhaps assume it is God trying to get your attention.  Then listen.  There is something behind it that you need to hear.