Recently, my wife and I had a long overdue dinner with friends. While catching up, we discovered that one of them had become an Uber driver. Having heard so much about it, I was curious to hear what the Uber experience was like from the driver’s perspective. Primary in my mind was this question, “How do people find you?” Well… to be absolutely honest, that wasn’t my question. What I really wanted to know was, “Once you have committed, what if you don’t want to be accessible to people?”

He humored my Uber ignorance with grace, offering a reply that was both simple and yet profound. “You can only be found if you want to be found. There is a ‘Go Online’ button in the app that allows you to indicate your availability.” “When you are online,” he continued, “you will show up on other people’s app. It will even indicate your distance from the person needing a ride. The person also can review your profile and they can decide whether they want you to drive them or not.”

I was intrigued by the fact that accessibility to others was my choice. If I did not want to be on someone’s radar, I didn’t have to be. Selah.

Pausing, I sensed a gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. Okay, the Holy Spirit gave me the elbow. I suddenly became mindful of the number of times that I intentionally chose to be ‘offline’ in my faith journey. Whether it was weariness, disappointment, or discouragement, there have been more moments than I care to confess, when I simply did not want to ‘go online’ with God. Deeper introspection revealed that, sometimes, I’ve been preoccupied, licking my wounds, oblivious to the invitation to be a carrier of His love and grace to someone else. Truth be told,while I know that “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth…” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT), at times, I just didn’t want Him to see me. I was the student in the classroom, hoping to be invisible to the scanning eyes of the teacher. Can you relate?

As we drove home, I was unexpectedly reminded of Moses’s call to ministry in Exodus 3:2-4. While in the wilderness, God chose to use a unique vessel to draw Moses’s attention to Himself: An ordinary bush, surrendered to, and consumed by Holy Fire. Picturing this scene in my mind, the Holy Spirit gently asked me a question. “Would you be willing to be a burning bush for Me?” Talk about vivid imagery! Before I could answer, He continued. “Would you be surrendered to, and consumed by, the glory of God in such a way that others would be drawn to hear the call of Christ on their lives?”

Drawn from the wells of God’s all-sufficiency, I received fresh grace to get over myself and to joyfully surrender my life afresh. The words of John Wesley flowed easily. “I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

Perhaps weariness, disappointment, or discouragement has caused you to slink further down in the proverbial classroom chair in hopes that you would be invisible to God. Would you receive fresh grace today to ‘go online’ with God? Your accessibility and your availability may be the very thing that God wants to use to speak to the Moses who is wandering in your wilderness. And before you make excuses as to why you should stay off-line, know this: your past does not disqualify you, your present does not prevent you, and your future does not exclude you from this divine privilege!

Rest in the assurance that, “God has the power to provide you with more than enough of every kind of grace. That way, you will have everything you need always and in everything to provide more than enough for every kind of good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 CEB). ‘Go Online,’ your Moses is waiting.

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[Looking for more devotionals like this? Check-out 31 Days of Encouragement, available for purchase on-line. Sharing a devotional at the beginning of a rehearsal or a staff meeting is a great way to help people center their hearts and minds on eternal things!]