This week is a topic I know has touched the heart of each one of us in one way or another.  Where is God when bad things happen?  Be honest. We all have wondered that from time to time, even if we’ve never voiced it out loud.  Perhaps we’ve not even admitted it to ourselves; but perhaps in the smallest recesses of our hearts and minds the reflection of our curiosity has hinted for a moment. Why?  Where?

Carol McLeod leads us in a devotional about this very thing in a devotional from her book, “Refined:  Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire”:

God audibly prophesied the future of Moses, the future of the children of Israel, and the future of Egypt to Moses in these significant and familiar verses. As believers who are knowledgeable of this Sunday school story, we are tempted to read these verses with a bit of disinterest, because we know all that Moses has to go through. We all know about the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and being lost in the wilderness.

But may I just remind you that Moses had not watched The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston, and he had not taken his boys to see the cinematic version of The Prince of Egypt! Moses did not know what his future held, just like you, my friend, are not aware of what your future holds.

But you serve the God of Moses who has been to your future—and it is good! God sees in advance, and He is able to make a way where there seems to be no way. We know that the God of Moses is a good God and that He exists to constantly work good in all of our life situations. Therefore, He has indeed been to the future and has enthusiastically stamped your future with the word, Good!

The story of this fugitive, Moses, who was on the run and who then hid in the wilderness, serves as an exciting reminder that whenever one encounters a fire, “I Am” will be there, because He never takes His caring eyes off His children for one instant of time.

If you are running away from life and from the consequences of sin, God is there. If you have found yourself in the wilderness with no direction, God is there. We know that if we listen, we will hear His loving voice speaking above the roar of the fire. We also know that the fires encountered by a child of God this side of Heaven have no power of destruction or decimation.

A fire is the wonderful place where God reveals Himself to weary wilderness dwellers and where He speaks purpose and destiny. A fire was fashioned by God to be the most sacred moment in the life of a believer.

This week’s devotion can be found among other’s in Carol’s book below: