“It is easy for me to busy myself in my comfortable routine, unaware of the scale of God’s plan that is right before me.”

Recently I was reading about the life of Moses in the book of Exodus. In the first four chapters we have Moses’ biography.  We learn about the harsh environment in Egypt for the Hebrews at that time. We learn how Moses’ mother hid him in a basket in the river to protect him. We discover that Moses was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, having all of the advantages a child could have. But then in Exodus 2:11, we see how conflicted and troubled Moses had become as a young adult.

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’ The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known’” (Exodus 2:11-15).

What a confused young man Moses must have been to act out in this way. He could have had a very easy and privileged life as the grandson of the Pharaoh. But God put something in his heart that caused him to identify with the oppressed Hebrew slaves rather than the privileged Egyptian class. Not really understanding his own emotions, Moses rebelled against the injustice he witnessed being thrust upon his people.

As he fled, I can imagine Moses was thinking, “I just need to get out of here! I need to lay low and start my life over.” As Moses looked for a life of obscurity, he found himself tending sheep.  We don’t know for exactly how long, but we do learn from Exodus 2:23, that it was a “long period.” Although Moses couldn’t see it at the time, as he was living his life in obscurity and hiding from his past, God was preparing him for an amazing rescue mission.

Last summer, my husband and I went on an incredible adventure to Alaska. Alaska is one of those places that change you. Being surrounded by nature that is untouched by man, smelling the ocean and the trees, made me think of what the earth must have been like on the seventh day of creation.

One morning while we were on our cruise ship heading north from Vancouver, my husband woke me up early and said, “You have to come out and see this!” So I put my jacket on over my PJ’s and stepped into my flip–flops. As I was pouring myself a hot cup of coffee, I noticed that the ship was hardly moving. I stepped out onto our balcony and saw that overnight we had sailed into Glacier Bay. We were sitting in a bay full of icebergs, surrounded by tidewater glaciers. Directly in front of us was the Hubbard Glacier, which is 6 miles wide, 76 miles long and 400 feet high on its face. It was breath taking! I looked up and down the ship, and saw that people were sitting or standing on every balcony above and below us, just looking out at this incredible sight. Although there were nearly 2,000 people on the ship, no one said a word. We were awestruck. It was a Sunday morning, and I felt like I was in God’s house.

Then, looking at the glacier through binoculars, I saw it. Something that appeared to be a tiny boat was up much closer to the face of the glacier. A Forest Ranger from Glacier Bay National Park who was on board our ship, pointed out the boat we were seeing near the glacier. She told us that although it looked like a small fishing boat, it was actually a ship that held 200 passengers. Suddenly, the scale of what I was seeing began to come into focus, and I instantly felt like a tiny grain of sand in the presence of God’s majestic creation.

I thought about that experience in Glacier Bay as I was reading Exodus. Moses had sought out a tiny life in Midian. He was hiding from his past. He did not want to call attention to himself. He was content to stay hidden in the mountains with his sheep, a miniscule speck on the planet. But God had a very different plan laid out for Moses. As he encountered an angel of the Lord through a burning bush, suddenly the scale of God’s power and plan came into focus for Moses.  Although he must have felt like a tiny grain of sand as he approached the bush, when his name was called out from the flames, he responded, “Here I am.”

It is easy for me to busy myself in my comfortable routine, unaware of the scale of God’s plan that is right before me. But something awe–inspiring happens when I pick up the binoculars of His Word and focus my mind on it. A plan takes root. I begin to understand the passions He has placed in my heart. I begin to recognize the skills He has given me. I begin to care about the physical and spiritual needs of the people He puts in my path. I become aware of how He spins me into a tiny thread that He can weave into His amazing rescue mission for the evangelism and discipleship of world.

My prayer is that I would be:

1. Alert to the opportunities that come my way to be the hands and feet of Christ in my world.
2. Willing to step out of my sandals of obscurity and approach the holy ground that He lays before me.
3. Willing to ask myself, “What has God put in my heart that He wants me to use for Him?”
4. Comforted by God’s promise from Exodus 3:12, “I will be with you. ”