Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Move toward the Unexpected

(?)

MOST FOLKS I KNOW LIKE things to stay as they are.

Being creatures of habit, we resist change; we protect our comfort zone; we are uneasy with the unexpected. We admire pioneers . . . so long as we can just read about them, not participate in their journeys. We applaud explorers . . . but not if it means we must load up and climb and crawl with them. Creative ideas are fine . . . but "don't get carried away," we warn. Plans that involve risks prompt worst-case scenarios from the lips of most who stand back in the shadows.

Maybe this explains why some never try anything new. The "fail factor" holds them in check, paralyzing any hint of participation. While a few consider the unexpected stimulating and exciting, there are always many more who move as far from it as possible.

Don't misunderstand. Innovative ideas include the very real probability of something going wrong. Just because the plan is creative is no guarantee that stuff won't backfire. On the contrary, surprises and disappointments await anyone who ventures into the unknown. Yet God often meets us in those times in unexpected ways:

The angel of the LORD appeared to [Moses] in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. . . . "This is amazing," Moses said to himself. "Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it."

When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

"Here I am!" Moses replied.

"Do not come any closer," the LORD warned. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

EXODUS 3:2–6

Moses moved toward the unexpected not from it. What would you have done?