Through The Bible in a Year - February 12, 2026

“Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” – Exodus 3:5

Why did God tell Moses to take off his sandals? The command wasn’t only about hygiene. If you’re a shepherd in the desert and you take off your sandals, your feet are still dirty.

Taking off your shoes means you’re not going anywhere else. This becomes the priority. The holiness of God is attracting and focusing.

Sometimes the reason we’re not on holy ground is that we’re still going about our business. “God, I’ll get back to You later. I’ve got this contract to think about. Lord, I’ll get back to You later. This game is right ahead of me. Lord, I’ll think about this when I’m a bit older and not so concerned about what people think of me right now.”

When you take off your shoes for spiritual priorities, you’re saying, “This is what I’m focused on.” The holiness of God is my priority, and it drives every other concern to second place in my life. God’s holy fire is consuming the distractions because the holiness of God has caused me to focus on him and his purposes.

We long for holy ground—that place where we can be close to God and believe He is close to us. Where there’s been a clearing made in our circumstances, our worries, our crisis, where God is close and we are close to Him.

The good news? We can still find such holy ground. Not by looking for burning bushes, but by (metaphorically) taking off our shoes—by making God’s purposes our priority instead of a secondary concern.

Respond: What keeps you from “taking off your shoes” with God? What distractions, priorities, or concerns keep you from focusing on His holiness? Today, take off your shoes. Make God your priority, not your afterthought, so that his purposes become the blessing and joy of your life.

Prayer: Holy God, forgive me for treating You like an afterthought, thinking I’ll get back to You later, Lord—after this meeting, after this game, after I’ve taken care of everything else. Today I take off my shoes for you. You are my priority. Consume my distractions. Hold me with Your holiness. In Jesus’ name, amen.