Refined - Finding Joy in the Midst of the FireSample

It was when God saw that He had attracted the attention of the ex-prince Moses that He called him by his name. When God finally sees that He has your attention, He will lovingly but definitively call you by your name. What does it take to capture your attention? How will God be able to jar you out of your rut? The God who never changes, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, still uses burning bushes to arrest the attention of His children who have lingered far too long in the wilderness of life. When God is in the fire, there will be no destruction or decimation that takes place; the only purpose for the confrontation of a burning bush is for a man or woman to change direction and listen to the voice of God. Theologians have a name for a fire of this sort; they often call it a “theophonic” fire. A theophonic fire is a place where God speaks and where His voice is clearly heard. God will use anything and everything, including a burning thorn bush, to grab your heart and your attention. God will speak to you from the fire; will you listen to His voice? There are more theophonic moments in life than we can imagine, but often we ignore them and turn away from the fire to escape it. God is speaking . . . He has arrived, He is not silent. The response of Moses should be the response of you and of me when we are confronted by the voice of God from a blazing fire. Moses replied, “Here I am, Lord.” Rather than question God or argue with God, the vital response of a man or a woman who longs to be used by the Lord will be, “Here I am, Lord.” If you are disgusted with wilderness living and desire to go from merely surviving to thriving, you will humbly respond, “Here I am, Lord.” When a fire of questionable origin causes you to turn from your intended pathway, perhaps the best response is, “Here I am, Lord.” “Here I am, Lord,” is all that God desires to hear from one of His own in the wasteland of life. “Here I am, Lord,” is God’s desired response whenever a man or a woman faces an unexpected but valuable fire.