Unexpected meetings
Saturday, Oct. 17
Exodus 2:16 – 3:22 Read it here Listen to it here

This starts with a familiar story: Boy, far from home, meets girl at well. Girl tells Dad, then girl marries boy.
At the risk of getting off track, I find it interesting how many of these life-changing encounters begin at wells, and only work out through women making introductions.
We don’t have public wells today, but our equivalent would be the unglamorous public gathering places where we do the regular business of life: the grocery store, the gas station, the fast-food place. No one is going there because they especially want to, but because they need to. No one is going there expecting their life to be changed.
Later in today’s reading we get to the familiar story of the burning bush. We usually think of that as being what an encounter with God looks like, with the voice from heaven and dramatic special effects. But it’s worth remembering that Moses never would have seen the burning bush if he hadn’t first had the everyday encounter at the well.
When he did get to the well, he saw that a group of women were trying to get water, but were being driven away by shepherds.
The same impulse that had led Moses to stand up to an Egyptian bully who was beating Hebrew slaves now led him to stand up for these women. This time, fortunately, it doesn’t lead to bloodshed. Instead, it introduces him into what will become his new family.
Yet, Moses feels he is a stranger in a strange land. Raised in a palace, he is now tending sheep neither in the land of his ancestors or in his adopted homeland. In tending the sheep, he led the flock “to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”
So we see Moses as a man driven by a strong sense of justice, not content to stay in one place, unsure where he belongs in life.
When Moses sees the burning bush, he is intrigued and attracted to it. “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” Moses combines a sense of curiosity with his sense of justice. He has a drive to understand, and to act on that understanding.
When God sees the misery of his people in Egypt and calls Moses to be his emissary to them, Moses might not recognize how qualified he is, but God does.

Saturday meditation

Proverbs 6:9-11
How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Prayer focus
Grant me the wisdom to know that what I see as dissatisfaction with life may just be my calling.

-Rev. Mark Fleming