Forty years is a long time. Some people live forty years twice. Moses did it three times! He was forty when he visited the Israelites for the first time. After running for his life, Moses spent forty years in the land of Midian. He encountered God at the age of eighty. When Moses saw the burning bush he stopped to take a look. He trembled at God’s revelation.
Moses might have felt forgotten in the wilderness. The Israelites surely felt they had been forgotten in Egypt. God did not forget them. He told Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. God had seen his people and he sent Moses back to lead Israel for the next forty years. What had changed? Moses.
The great evangelist, D. L. Moody said about the great man of God, “Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
Your presence in this world implies that God has a purpose for you. Because we have no guarantees of how long we will live, we must make every minute count. How will we start? Let’s take off our shoes in the presence of our holy God. Ask him what he wants you to do today. Then go where he sends you. God is not looking for our ability but for our availability. Mary Oliver asks, “Tell me. What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Give it to God!
