Popcorn & the Burning Bush

Last night I made popcorn.  Which I didn't eat that popcorn because it was a smoking disaster.  I tried out my microwave popcorn bowl and added all the things (but didn't read the directions - sigh) and zapped it a BIT TOO LONG.

The lid had melted slightly and the smoke was POURING out, and I carried it out to the three season porch to no longer assault my olfactory nerves.  Five minutes later the smoke was STILL pouring out and the center of my popcorn was literally a blackened, noxious, hot mess. I finally had to dump water on it, because I thought it was close to the self-combustion phase.  And I really like my three season porch...and my little home...and I didn't fancy converting my home to a spectacular outdoor amphitheater, as much as I enjoy those...elsewhere.

This morning I was reading from PREVAIL, a daily devotional by Susie Larson, and she was writing about Exodus 3, wherein Moses meets the Burning Bush, AKA God, I AM.  God's burning bush was something totally different - like nothing we can really imagine.  Moses WANTED to draw near; he wasn't turning away because it smelled terrible, or the smoke hurt his eyes and lungs.  Instead, God had to warn him to not get too close and to remove his sandals because even the ground was holy around this burning-but-not-consumed-bush.  It was certainly not a thing he could carry away and douse with the water and close the door on, THE END.

Let's look at Ex 3:4.  It reads, "When the LORD saw that [Moses] turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'“  What stands out to me is the phrase, "When the LORD saw..."  And it struck me that the Lord was watching.  He was the one WAITING for Moses to turn aside to Him.  

I've always just focused on the wonder of a bush that's burning and not consumed, where Moses just happens upon and meets Holy, Mysterious, Unapproachable God--not the part that God did something astounding because He was waiting for, wanting Moses to see Him! 

So, I come back to my first question:  "When is a burning bush not just a burning bush?", i.e., not merely a PHENOMENON?  When it's our phenomenal, mysterious, holy, AND approachable God!  He's not a god far off; He's God Who Sees Us! He waits for us to turn aside to Him!

Thinking about last night's almost combustible popcorn, I am delighted to realize that God uses even the mundane things in my life to SEE HIM; He is waiting for me - and for YOU - to see Him.