The AMI QT Devotionals for February 11-17 provided by Doug Tritton. Doug, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania, is currently serving as a staff at Symphony Church (Boston), while pursuing a M.Div. at Gordon Conwell Seminary.  He is married to Cindy and they are proud parents of Audrey and Benji, who was born this past December.  Congratulations.

Devotional Thoughts for Today

“The Lord Appears” (Part 1)

Exodus 3:1-2

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Imagine this scene: You are at your workplace – let’s say it is a normal corporate office building—and you are sitting at your desk. You get up to pick up something you just printed. But while standing by the printer, suddenly, you hear a voice calling to you. You look and it seems the Lord has appeared to you out of the midst of a plant in your office. How would you react? What would you do? Can you imagine this even happening?

This seems comical at face value, because it’s difficult for many of us to imagine this ever happening. Even as a pastor, I have a hard time imagining God visibly appearing to me when I am at our church office. But this is what happened to Moses. He was basically in his workplace, out in the wilderness keeping his sheep, which is what he did every day. He probably had a hard time imagining the Lord appearing to him while he was out keeping the sheep. His routine seemed too ordinary.

Maybe the Lord wants to meet with you in your workplace today—perhaps your office, your classroom, or wherever you work will be holy ground. Yet oftentimes it’s in the ordinariness of our daily routine that the Lord wants to appear to us. He might not appear to you out of a plant, but He may speak to you. But are you ready? Do you have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to respond? Or are you too distracted with your work that you would not even notice God’s appearance. Henry Blackaby says in Experiencing God, “One of the greatest tragedies among God’s people is that, although they deeply long to experience God, they are encountering Him day after day but do not recognize Him.”

Today, keep your eyes and ears open to the Lord. I believe He does want to meet with us. So often we get so distracted at work that we leave the office having not even thought about Him once. Pray this morning for an attentive heart to the Lord. Even our workplaces can be places we meet God and see Him work.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for being a God who meets us where we are. We do not have to come to You to find You. There is not a temple where we need to visit to meet with You – the whole earth is Your temple and that even includes our workplaces. May we believe that You can meet us today. Give ears and eyes and hearts that are ready for You. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Genesis 48

Lunch Break Study  

Read 2 Kings 6:15-17: When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Questions to Consider

1. Why was the servant of Elisha afraid? What did he see?
2. What did the servant not see?
3. When you think about your work, in what ways are you seeing from a worldly perspective rather than from God’s perspective? How can you see things the way God sees?

Notes

1. The servant only saw an enemy army and this army was massive. In any worldly sense, Elisha and his people had no chance. They were a defenseless city against a large army. Naturally, the servant was terrified and could only see defeat.
2. Though from a worldly perspective, Elisha and his people were far less than the army of Syria, there was another army present that the servant did not see. This was the army of the Lord and this army was surrounding Elisha and his people to give them protection. From God’s perspective, there was no reason to be afraid!
3. Pray and reflect on this question before resuming your work for the afternoon.

Evening Reflection

Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 10:23, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Ask God tonight to give you eyes to see God and what He is doing. Only God can open our eyes. Pray that tomorrow would be a day that you see God and see what He is doing around you.