We look at one of the most famous stories in the Bible this weekend, i.e., the account of how Moses' life turned around through a voice coming out of a burning bush. The episode began like many turning points in the Bible. Moses was walking on his usual path, herding his father-in-law's sheep. But, in the normal course of a day's activities, he turned aside from his normal path— and his life was never again the same.

The key word for our message today occurs in v. 3 and v. 4: "sur" in Hebrew. It means to turn aside or to move off a usual pathway. Last weekend, we looked at Sarah's story in Genesis 18, and I emphasized that God deals with each one of us individually. God does not use a cookie-cutter approach in his relationships with people. However, this week we will also see that there are some common identifying marks in God's dealings. One of them, I believe, is that he often disrupts our usual self-directed lives. He turns us aside from our normal paths. I call this a "sur-moment."

Almost every significant turning point in my life has involved a "sur-moment." One period Chris and I will never forget was when God led us away from music ministry in Europe. I was happily planning to return to the U.S. to do some graduate work when I was asked to drive a conference speaker, missiologist Peter Beyerhaus, to the Hamburg airport. I tried to get someone else to do it but failed. As he and I were en route, Dr. Beyerhaus asked me about my educational plans. I told him, and he quickly and firmly said, "Greg, I was just in the States, and you cannot go to that school. Every gospel-centered member of its faculty has left. You cannot go there." I asked, "Where should I go?" Without flinching, he declared, "Trinity Evangelical Divinity School."

Dr. Beyerhaus said this with such conviction that I thought it surely sounded like the voice of the Lord. This happened only weeks before we were to leave Germany. If Chris and I were to follow his advice, we would have no idea where we would live, whether I could get into a different school, where we would work... Basically, we had no idea how we would survive. But, sensing that this was indeed God's calling, we obeyed.

It was a sur-moment—a disruptive voice. Life has never been the same.

To His Glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor