Stay at Home Mom

Exodus 3:1-5

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

If you know me personally, then you are already aware of my love for learning different languages and cultures. I guess you can say I enjoyed it so much that I married into a different culture. The one new concept that I have embraced completely is taking shoes off before coming into the house. Besides the obvious health reasons for taking shoes off (if you don’t know how many germs can live on your shoes, look it up), Asians have been doing this for symbolic reasons for centuries. 

In Japan, the area where they keep their shoes is called a genkan. The reason that the Japanese take off their shoes is to symbolize entering into a private space. The Chinese believe it allows pressure point stimulation. This belief is reflected in an ancient Chinese massage known as reflexology. Each point, on the foot map below, represents a part of the body. Depending on a person’s ailment or ache, a reflexologist will apply pressure to a certain point on the foot to treat it.

Just like a reflexologist, God wants to apply pressure in your troubled areas. I don’t know what you are going through in this season of your life, but God knows everything about you. He wants to help solve the problems you have by applying pressure.

Think about a time when you had a foot massage. Did the masseuse massage your feet with your shoes on? Would that be effective? No. You had to take the shoes off. I know it is a layer of protection from something that could possibly hurt you. Just like a masseuse, God needs you to take that layer of protection off. He wants to get you in a private space where you can be vulnerable with Him.

But God, they broke my heart, and I don’t know if You can mend it. I would rather protect it from everyone including You. God that person was out of line, and I cannot forgive them. God, I don’t know how to trust You when this world has taught me that trust is a weakness. There’s no way I can take that step Lord, because it means I would have to rely completely on You. My shoes are comfortable. They are protecting my feet and hiding the things I don’t want anyone to see. They are hiding the things I don’t want to see.

God said you cannot rest in Him if you are always playing defense. Your guard is always up, and you won’t let anyone in. You are hurting, but you hide it. You go to church every week, but go back home the same way you came. It is time to get vulnerable with God. When God calls your name, will you say “Here I am?” Where He calls you is a private space for Him to apply pressure where you need it the most.