A solitary figure stood in a large clearing with a couple hundred sheep. From a distance, he might have been any other shepherd, dressed only in robe and sandals, possessing only a hooked staff. But a closer examination revealed him to be handsome, lucid of speech, his eyes revealing deeper intelligence. After a short conversation one would realize he was well educated, capable of shepherding not only sheep, but an entire nation.

Indeed, at one point in his life he was a politician of power in the world’s only superpower. As a child he had been tutored in the royal palace, groomed for leadership, trained to one day rule the nation and all its territories, but the immense corruption eventually drove this noble, moral man to revolt and exile. Should the corruption have only been among the palace rulers, his life may have been different. Perhaps he would have stuck it out, taken the throne and cleaned house by replacing all the dishonest with upright men. But he had found himself trapped in intrigue after another, and witness to abuse after abuse. From the nations tolerance of slavery and police’s mistreatment of those slaves, to the royalty who thrived on deceit and adulterous affairs, the corruption of the kingdom was total and complete.

One day he broke, just couldn’t continue to let evil persist. He murdered a policeman who was beating the life out of a slave. He killed the officer and hid the body, but not very well, and he knew it would not be long before his crime was discovered. That was the day he took his leave. He fled to the hillside, away from the palace, away from power and corruption to the silent fields of farmers and shepherds.

How long ago had those days been, he wondered. They seemed as days of old, yet not a day had passed since then that he didn’t consider his old life of luxury and self-sufficiency. It wasn’t that he regretted his leaving, it was that he marveled at how much richer a relationship he could have with his God when not distracted by ever-present evil and corruption.

He was leading the flock around the west side of the field and to the foot of a lush mountain, known to the surrounding community as “the mountain of God.” As he rounded a small cleft in the hillside to keep better watch over the flock, a most astonishing sight greeted him. Without any signs of a storm and lightening, without anyone else around, there was fire on the mountain. Where had it come from? It was not big enough to be a threat to he or the sheep grazing below, but curious all the same, he approached this amazement. It was a shrub, a common mountain bush, with flames leaping all around it and in it and on it, yet it was green with life, and not a single limb was scorched or even began to smolder! He stepped a little closer, for a better look, and that’s when he heard the voice of God.

“Moses!” It sounded as if it came from the bush! “Here I am,” he responded.

“Do not walk near here. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground!” Moses did so. “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” At this Moses hid his face and was afraid to look at God.

Our calling isn’t likely to be as dramatic as Moses’, but take a moment to show your reverence and love for God by boldly going before the throne of grace and read Ephesians 4.1-3. Tomorrow we’ll discover more about how God gives us each a calling. A calling that can’t wait to be lived out.