January 13 - dfree® Devotions for Financial Freedom

Verse
"When the Lord saw that he (Moses) had gone over to look, God called him from within the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."" Exodus 3:4 (NIV)

Thought
My mother-in-law loved me but she drove me crazy in certain ways. She was born and raised in South Carolina and she had some ideas and habits that were just so different than my Brooklyn born, New Jersey raised self. Besides recipes for cooking food with which I was not familiar with and remedies for ailments that seemed like they were more life threatening than the ailment, my mother-in-law had sayings and advice that were just unique - at least to everyone not from South Carolina.

One such advisory was this: if you are looking for something and cannot find it, stop looking and you will find it. For instance, if I was at her house visiting my soon-to-be wife and could not find my car keys, she would calmly and matter-of-factly say, "Stop looking." And sure enough, I would stop looking for my keys and soon thereafter, they would appear. It was like magic.

Moses discovered this to be true also in the wilderness while taking care of his father-in-law's sheep. There was a bush burning with a fire that would not stop burning on the side of the mountain and Moses turned and went to look at the bush burn. By turning to the bush, Moses actually had to turn from the sheep. Those sheep represented Moses's family wealth and prosperity. In those sheep Moses possessed his long term livelihood and financial security. One would think that Moses would give his undivided attention to the sheep and do nothing to risk losing them. After all, it makes sense to focus on those things that pertain to our long term welfare and security. But Moses turned from the sheep - and when he did, he heard the voice of God. In fact, the Bible says that it was not until God saw that Mosses took his eyes off his sheep that God saw fit to summon Moses to his mission.

As counter intuitive as it may seem, perhaps God is waiting for you to put more focus on your mission than on your money to reveal to you what God has prepared for you. Sometimes we find what we are seeking when we stop looking and start focusing on what God is doing and wants to do with our lives.

Prayer
"God, As I take my eyes off of my security for a few minutes, show me my mission in life. Amen."