One of the perks of global travel is moving out of your comfort zone—running into things and people you’d never expect to encounter. I took a trip down the Venezuelan Amazon once, discovering that piranhas are real and that monkey stew isn’t a legend.

Moses was living in Midian, so he was a long way from home in Egypt. A Hebrew, he had killed an Egyptian he saw beating a Hebrew slave. Scared for his life, Moses ran. And ran. And ran. Now, 40 years later, Moses was a different man living in a place that was still not his home. In Exodus 3, we read that Moses had led his flock to “the far side of the desert” (Exodus 3:1 NIV). This was a fitting metaphor for Moses. His life was a long way from what he had imagined. For 40 years, he had been on the run. Moses had forgotten who he was.

But God hadn’t forgotten. Moses noticed the odd sight of a thornbush aflame but not consumed by the fire. “This is amazing!” Moses said, “I must go see it” (Exodus 3:3). What else would you do if you were alone in the desert and happened upon such a sight? As Moses stepped toward the fiery bush, God spoke from the flames with a warning. “Do not come any closer . . . you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).

Moses wasn’t looking for God and didn’t expect to find Him. In fact, further reading reveals that when God spoke, Moses didn’t like what He had to say. Moses had gone missing . . . for 40 years.

No distance or no stretch of time is too far for God, however. When God intends to find you, He will find you. The question for us is: What will we do once we’ve been found?

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today:  Acts 20:13-38