Deliver Us: Never in a Million Years

Sometimes life takes us somewhere we never expected to be.

Moses knew something about that. He had once been a prince of Egypt, but after everything fell apart, he fled to Midian. The life he had known was gone, and the future he once imagined for himself was no longer possible.

But Midian did not remain simply the place Moses ran to. Life began to grow there. He met Tzipporah, became part of a family, worked as a shepherd, and found belonging, relationship, purpose, and home in a place he never would have imagined for himself.

That does not mean everything that brought Moses to Midian was good. The same is true in our lives. Sometimes the road we never planned comes through grief, illness, conflict, loss, disappointment, or circumstances we would change in an instant if we could.

We do not have to believe that God causes every dark moment in order to trust that God is present within it. From the beginning of Scripture, God has been making light in darkness. God does not need to cause the darkness in order to make light within it.

New life does not erase what has been lost. New joy does not make old grief unreal. A new chapter cannot replace the people, places, or dreams that mattered to us before. Loss remains loss, even as life continues to grow.

And yet the unexpected life can still hold grace.

That is what Moses discovers in Midian.

Then one ordinary day, while tending sheep in the wilderness, Moses sees a bush burning. God calls his name and tells him to remove his sandals because the ground beneath him is holy.

That detail matters because this is Midian—the place Moses never planned to be. This is the wilderness. This is the unexpected life. And God declares this ground holy.

God is not waiting for Moses somewhere back in the life he thought he was supposed to have. God meets him in the life that is actually his.

The same is true for us. Our lives may look very different from what we once imagined. Some of what brought us here may be beautiful. Some of it may have been terribly painful. There may be parts of our old lives we still miss deeply.

And yet God is here.

The God who brought light into darkness at creation is still making light. The God who met Moses in the wilderness still meets us in unexpected places. Sometimes the ground we never intended to stand upon becomes holy ground.

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Key Scriptures

Exodus 2:21–3:10
Genesis 1:1–5

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Key Takeaways

The unexpected life can still be full of life

Moses did not choose Midian as the fulfillment of his dreams. Yet love, belonging, purpose, and joy grew there. A life that looks different from what we expected can still be meaningful and beautiful.

God does not need to cause the darkness in order to make light within it

Not every tragedy, loss, or painful change should be explained as something God caused. But no darkness places us beyond God’s creative presence.

New life does not erase old loss

Grace does not require us to pretend that what happened did not hurt. New joy does not replace those we have lost or make earlier chapters meaningless. Loss remains loss, even as life continues to grow.

The unexpected life can still hold grace

Sometimes what emerges after an ending is not what we would have chosen or imagined. Yet love, purpose, community, beauty, and grace can still take root there.

God meets us in the life that is actually ours

God did not wait for Moses to return to Egypt before appearing to him. God met him in Midian, during an ordinary day, in the middle of the life that had become his.

The wilderness can become holy ground

The place Moses once knew only as exile became the place where God called his name. Sometimes the very ground we never intended to stand upon becomes the place where we discover that God is already there.

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Questions for Reflection

In what ways does your life look different from the life you once imagined for yourself?

What losses or unexpected changes have shaped the road that brought you to where you are today?

Where have you discovered grace, love, purpose, or beauty in a place you never expected to be?

Are there painful experiences in your life that you have felt pressured to explain as something “God did for a reason”? How might it change your understanding to believe that God can make light within darkness without having caused the darkness?

Is there something good growing in your life now that you might have overlooked because you were still longing for the life you expected?

What would it mean to believe that God is not waiting for you somewhere else, but is present in the life that is actually yours?

Where might God be inviting you to look again at the ground beneath your feet and recognize that even here, this can be holy ground?