God Turns Wasteland into Holy Ground

Sometimes life feels like a wasteland. Maybe you’re holding onto pain from a relationship that didn’t turn out as you hoped. Or perhaps you’re burdened by the death of a dream or discouraged by unanswered prayers. Maybe the daily routine of groceries, bills, and doctor’s appointments makes you wonder if God even notices you anymore.

I know that feeling. And I think Moses did, too.

When we meet Moses in Exodus 3, he isn’t in a temple, nor is he deep in prayer. He’s not expecting a spiritual encounter. He’s just at work — tending sheep on Mount Horeb, a place whose very name means “wasteland.” (If there’s a less likely place to encounter God, I don’t know it.)

Moses had been through a lot. Rescued as a baby from Pharaoh’s cruel decree, raised in the palace but deeply aware of his Hebrew identity, he carried a complicated past. One rash act — killing an Egyptian overseer — caused him to run for his life. In Midian, far from the drama of his youth, he settled into a life of anonymity. He married, became a father, and tried to build a quiet life.

The Moses who once held the future of a people in his hands now lived in obscurity, walking the same desolate hills day after day. I imagine he was tired. Maybe a bit cynical. Maybe convinced that his life’s most meaningful chapters were behind him.

But then: a bush ablaze — full of flames but not consumed.

Moses wasn’t looking for God. But God was looking for Moses.

Curiosity tugged Moses forward. He moved closer, maybe squinting at the strange sight. And it’s only once Moses draws near that God speaks his name: “Moses, Moses.”

God tells him, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Holy ground? Here? In the wasteland?

Yes.

We have a God who turns wastelands into holy places, who transforms the everyday into sacred, and who takes a shepherd in hiding and names him a deliverer.

Moses didn’t see himself as qualified. He rattled off excuses: I’m not a good speaker. People won’t trust me. I’m just a nobody. And maybe you’ve whispered the same excuses: I’m too old. I’m too tired. I’m too young. I’m not spiritual enough. I’ve messed up too much.

But for every excuse Moses offered, God had an answer: “I will be with you.”

Maybe you feel like you’re wandering in a wasteland right now. Like you’re weighed down with disappointment or regret. Maybe you feel that your life is unremarkable… and, if you’re being honest, forgettable.

But God sees you. God calls your name. You may not get a burning bush, but God is still in this business of pursuing us, of interrupting us. God is still stirring our curiosity and surprising us with grace. We just have to pay attention.

What if your weekday morning is precisely where God wants to meet you? What if the load of laundry, the school pickup line, or the work meeting is not wasted space but sacred ground?

The mystery of God is that we don’t always find certainty, but we do find presence. And in that presence, wastelands change.

The very place where Moses hid became the starting point for his calling. His ordinary day turned into a holy encounter that transformed everything.

What might happen if you stayed curious, too? If you moved toward and opened yourself to the possibility that God is nearer than you imagined?

Take off your shoes. Right here, right now, you’re on holy ground.