Meeting God in the Ordinary

God doesn’t always speak most clearly on the mountaintop. Many of God’s greatest revelations have happened when His people were in the middle of their everyday responsibilities.

Moses was simply doing his job, tending sheep in the desert, just as he had done for the past 40 years. It was there that God placed something extraordinary in his path. When Moses noticed a bush that was burning but not consumed, this is what Exodus 2:3 tells us what happened next: “Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight.’” Scripture then adds something remarkable. “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look . . . God called to him,” Exodus 2:4 (NKJV). God waited for Moses to pause from his routine long enough to pay attention.

Burning bushes don’t always look like miracles at first glance: a conversation that stays with you longer than expected, a young person asking deeper questions about faith, a sudden burden for someone you had not thought about in years, a challenge that forces you to slow down. These moments may seem small, but they could be holy invitations.

Throughout Scripture, God appears in the midst of ordinary life. Gideon was threshing wheat, David was watching sheep and the disciples were working their everyday jobs when they were called. God still speaks in the same way: in kitchens, classrooms, fields, living rooms, hospital rooms and long drives. The extraordinary often hides inside the ordinary.

Woven inside our ordinary rhythms are divine appointments, placed there by God Himself: a Sabbath greeting that becomes a life-changing conversation, a child in Sabbath School who says something that touches your heart, a church member who unexpectedly opens up about a burden, a neighbor who asks for prayer at just the right moment. These may be your burning bushes.

The question is not whether God still speaks. The question is whether we turn aside long enough to listen. Turning aside begins with attention: “Lord, what are You showing me in this moment?” It continues with slowing down. And it leads to a response—like Moses saying, “Here I am.”

My prayer for all of us is simple: May God give us eyes to see Him in the midst of our everyday lives. May we be a people who notice burning bushes. May we never rush past the moments God places in our path to draw us closer to His heart. And when God calls our name, may we answer with joy, “Here I am.”

By Elton DeMoraes, D. Min.President