Through The Bible in a Year - February 16, 2026

“I have come down to deliver them.” – Exodus 3:8

Here’s what we learn about holy ground from Exodus 3: The ground is not made holy by the people, the time, or the place. The ground is made holy by the presence of God.

God came down to terrible people—descendants of the brothers who sold Joseph into slavery, a nation that forgot their God, Moses himself, who was a murderer and had abandoned God’s ways.

God came down at a terrible time—His people were slaves in awful conditions.

God came down to a terrible place—not a palatial temple, but a desert mountain in a harsh wilderness.

And yet this was holy ground. Why? Because God was there.

Through the Exodus accounts, we hear God Saying, “I was in the bush with your father Abraham. I was in the bulrushes when Moses was launched on the Nile. I am in the bush now. I’ll be with you at Pharaoh’s palace and amongst his military guard. I’ll be with you when you come back to this mountain. I’ll take you to the Promised Land. I am the God behind you, the God ahead of you, the God with you. I am the God of all times, all places. Wherever I am, that’s the holy place. And I am everywhere.”

Where is holy ground? Here and at your home. In the hospital room. In the moment of crisis, in the moment of anger, in your marriage, in your sin. Despite our weakness and fault and frailty and doubt, every one of these places is the holy place of God because he is there.

Respond: Where do you think God isn’t? What place feels too broken, too sinful, too mundane to be holy ground? Hear God say: “I came down to harsh and awful lands in harsh and awful circumstances to sanctify them by my presence for my purposes. I’m here. Wherever I am, that’s holy ground—and I am everywhere with you.”

Prayer: God, whose name is Emmanuel, God with us, open my eyes to see that You are everywhere. In my home, my workplace, my struggles, my failures—You are there, making it holy ground. Help me recognize Your presence in every place and circumstance so that I honor and trust you there and everywhere. In Jesus’ name, amen.*