I was pondering about when and how God speaks, and came to this passage and meditated on it, to draw principles on encountering God.

And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

Exo 3:4, KJV

Moses had an encounter with God that day.

We can have encounters with God through: miracles in our lives, spending time with God and His people, new seasons of our lives God leads us into (e.g; new church, new ministry, new job, new people we meet), and many others.

And each time we encounter God, we enter into His presence which is full of: goodness, joy, grace, mercy, compassion, humility, power, and glory. Because that is His very essence: His character and who He is.

Please refer to Prophetic Part 4: Practical Guidelines in the Prophetic article, Joel 2:25 article, Matt 11:28-30 article, John 1:1 article, and Luke 23:42-43 article respectively.

Sometimes, we encounter Him through circumstances He leads us into. However, sometimes it is also possible for us to seek an encounter of Him, as Moses did in this passage.

Let’s look at some things Moses did, as He sought to meet God.

Firstly, we see Moses was hungry for an encounter with God.

He probably had a tiring day tending to his father-in-law: Jethro’s flock, amidst the dry, arid and hot desert (v1).

But being responsible for the flock and the work which Jethro entrusted to him, he led the entire flock to the back of the desert, to somewhere remote: to the mountain of God.

We see his determination to come and meet God, by going the distance across the sweltering desert heat.

And thus his hunger for an encounter with God, despite the circumstances.

Likewise, we can learn to be undeterred in seeking God, despite the challenges and difficulties, we may be currently facing.

We should also maintain healthy spiritual disciplines like going to church, praying, reading the Bible, even when it’s hardest and we may not feel like doing any of these.

Because if we don’t, there is a tendency for us to drift. And it is easy to drift because drifting does not need effort, and it’s so subtle.

All we need to do is: simply do nothing, and let the undercurrents of the world: their influences, values, and practices, take us away from God.

Please refer to John 14:2-4 article, for some mansions / areas of our lives we should surrender to God.

Hence, we are warned not to drift, and anchor ourselves on Jesus (Heb 2:1-4).

Next, we see that God usually comes and meet us, in our day-to-day activities.

It was another day of tending the flock for Moses, but that day was special as God chose to make himself known to Moses (although coupled with his effort / zeal to do so, as discussed above).

Moses probably wasn’t expecting God to show up, as he was evidently astonished about the unconsumed burning bush (v3).

And also when God revealed Himself later, He had to call Moses name twice, to get his attention (v4).

But his own curiosity to examine the bush further, although burning bushes were a common-sight in the desert, was rewarded as He finally met God (v4).

Moses did not let his familiarity and complacency, overlook this slightly unusual sighting.

Instead, fuelled by his desire to encounter God, he stopped and attentively examined the bush.

Please refer to A Fresh Encounter with God article.

And similarly, God speaks to us also even in our seemingly mundane activities: be it at work, school, church.

In fact God speaks all the time daily, it is us who needs to be attentive enough to notice what He is trying to say to us.

Please refer to Supernatural Healing Part 2: Revelatory Gifts of the Holy Spirit article, for other obstacles like: anxiety and disappointment, that might block our hearing.

Third, we see God comes and meet us, on His terms not ours.

We can make time and space, to prepare to meet God.

But it is God who decides whether, when and where to meet us.

For Moses, he was not expecting God to come as well, even though he had prepared himself to be at the place, as discussed above.

But Moses not only himself physically, but prepared his heart too.

As we can see in above, he had the hunger, desire, and attentiveness, to hear from God.

And that day God decided to meet him, at the burning bush, on the account that Moses paid attention to the unconsumed burning bush which implies: Moses had the right heart (v4).

God doesn’t show up to Moses simply because he was at the mountain of God (v1).

But more importantly, because his heart was prepared and eager to seek him.

Likewise, being in a physical place: say a church, a cell, or any place which we have encountered God before, is secondary if we want to encounter Him again.

What’s more important is preparing our hearts to meet Him.