Taking Off Old Shoes: God's Call to Renewal and New Seasons

Ren Schuffman
Nov 10
4 min read

Taking Off Old Shoes: God's Call to Renewal and New Seasons

Have you ever wondered why God asked Moses to remove his shoes before standing on holy ground? This simple command reveals a profound spiritual truth about leaving our past behind and stepping into God's renewal for our lives.

Why Your Body Wasn't Designed to Carry Everything

Your flesh was never designed to carry the full presence of God. Due to the corruption that entered humanity, our physical bodies cannot handle the complete weight of God's glory. This is why people sometimes fall under God's presence - not because something is wrong, but because our bodies have limitations.

More importantly, your body was never designed to carry sin, anxiety, fear, hatred, or stress. These burdens break down your physical health because you weren't created to be a carrier of such things. Everything that didn't exist in the Garden of Eden - you were never meant to carry.

What Does This Mean for Your Health?

When your body carries what it was never designed for, it breaks down. Stress causes high blood pressure and organ problems. Anxiety creates sickness. Fear destroys your peace. You are not a fear carrier, an anxiety holder, or a sin bearer - you were designed to host God's presence.

The Significance of Removing Your Shoes

When Moses encountered the burning bush, God's first command wasn't to clean up his life or get rid of his problems. It was simply: "Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground."

Why Shoes Matter Spiritually

Think about new shoes from a store. You can try them on inside and they remain "new," but the moment you wear them outside, they collect dirt and can no longer be sold as new. Moses couldn't bring the dirt of his past into his future calling. The shoes represented everything from his previous season that needed to stay behind.

In biblical times, shoes held deep symbolic meaning. Only free people wore shoes - servants went barefoot. When the prodigal son's father put shoes on his feet, he was declaring: "You are a son, not a servant." The shoes represented restored identity and family status.

Understanding God's Mercy and Renewal

The Hebrew word for God's mercy is "chesed" - one of the deepest words in Scripture that almost refuses translation. It's not just mercy as we understand it (getting less punishment than we deserve). It's covenant love that never quits, never depends on your performance, and never fades when tested.

What Makes God's Love Different

Human love often fades when tested, but God's chesed is anchored in His own nature, not in who you are or what you do. This is why Lamentations 3:22-23 declares: "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning."

That word "new" means covenant renewal. Every morning, God offers you a fresh covenant, saying: "I don't care about yesterday. If you'll come running to my mercy, I'll renew our relationship today."

The Hebrew Meaning of Renewal

The Hebrew word for renewal is "chadash." When broken down by its letters, it means: a wall (what separates), a door (what provides access), and fire (what destroys). Together, it represents moving from outside to inside while destroying what you currently carry from the past.

This isn't just moving locations - it's transformational renewal that destroys the old season to bring you into the new.

What Needs to Be Left Behind

Not all the "dirt" on your shoes is from your failures. Some comes from trauma - things that happened TO you rather than things you did wrong. Maybe you're carrying the mistreatment, abuse, or brokenness that others inflicted on you.

Whether it's your mistakes or your wounds, God is calling you to take off those shoes. You're not broken - the shoes are just carrying something that doesn't belong to you anymore.

Stepping Into Your New Season

Moses had to return to Egypt, but not as the same person who fled. He went back as a deliverer, not as a son of Pharaoh. He traded the shoes of Egyptian royalty for the sandals of a servant of God.

God may be calling you to return to places or situations from your past, but you're meant to go back different. You're not going back as who you were - you're going back as who God has made you to be.

Signs You're Ready for New Shoes

Sometimes God opens doors you never expected. People you once only admired from a distance become colleagues. Opportunities that seemed impossible suddenly become available. These are signs that you've stepped into the new shoes God has prepared for you.

The key is recognizing that your current identity might need to change. What gave you status or recognition in the past might need to be laid down for what God is calling you to next.

God's Mercy Is Greater Than Your Criticism

Here's a truth that might surprise you: God is more ready to forgive you than you are to forgive yourself. You remind yourself of your failures more than anyone else does. You criticize yourself more harshly than God ever would.

God's mercy comes with renewal, which means you get a chance to get it right next time. It doesn't mean you keep making the same mistakes - it means you have the opportunity to walk differently.

Life Application

This week, identify what "shoes" you need to take off. What from your past season - whether failures, trauma, or old identity - are you still carrying that's preventing you from stepping into what God has next?

Make a conscious decision to leave those things behind. This might mean forgiving yourself for past mistakes, releasing bitterness from past hurts, or letting go of an identity that no longer serves God's purpose for your life.

Remember: you were designed to carry God's presence, not the weight of your past. Step onto the holy ground of God's renewal and let Him give you new shoes for the journey ahead.