One of the wonderful things about the Christian life is that just when you think you have it by the tail, God reveals even More of Himself - and it blows you away all over again.
I was thinking of Moses this evening. He first met God in a way that cut through all his objections, all his baggage, and brought him to the place where he was willing to be the Deliverer that was promised. Although not a word-for-word rendering, the way Disney's Prince of Egypt renders that meeting (click on this bolded text to see it) is pretty potent. The first time I saw it, in the theatre at full volume, it left me breathless, my face soaked with tears.
The Bible says that Moses spoke with God as a man speaks with his friend. He had several meetings with God. The first was in itself a powerful experience. Life-changing!
But he went even deeper while seeing God's wonders being done in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and getting the ten commandments.
He might have believed that he knew God as intimately as one could possibly know Him. Yet - God had other things to teach him and the most important one was that one can never fully know all there is of God. There is always more.
Moses desired so desperately to know God deeper and deeper. He asked Him, begged Him, to show him His glory. God told him that seeing His face was impossible to survive for human flesh - but He would let Moses see His back parts. When Moses came down from that encounter, his face shone so brightly that people had to ask him to wear a veil over his face when he was with them. He only took the veil off when he went to meet with God again.
That brilliance rested on him for weeks afterward.
After God gave Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle (a tent that would house the Ark of the Covenant when they were not traveling), and it was built, the Levites took the Ark into the tabernacle for the first time and left it in the Most Holy Place. God's presence came down to rest in that enclosed space. Moses thought he could go into the tabernacle and meet with God as he had on the mountain.
But he could physically get no further than the door; the shekinah (glory) presence of God stopped him in his tracks. The manifest presence of God was so great, so powerful, that not even Moses - who had spoken with God as a friend - could get near.
He learned that God is so incredibly great that it is never possible to fathom the depths, the widths, and the heights of His awesomeness. There is always more.
That is a most humbling experience. It is a warning to those among us who would convince themselves that they have a monopoly on God - that He only speaks in this or that way, that He only acts in this or that prescribed manner. He is so much bigger than that. Moses learned this through the things he went through in the wilderness, through years of getting to know God in ever-increasing intimacy.
And he wrote about his experiences so that we would know that there is never an end to the possibilities of going deeper and deeper into God by the power of His Spirit. There is never an end to His love, to His grace, to His patience, to His kindness, to His power, to His integrity, to His justice, to His faithfulness...and so much ...more.
I was thinking of Moses this evening. He first met God in a way that cut through all his objections, all his baggage, and brought him to the place where he was willing to be the Deliverer that was promised. Although not a word-for-word rendering, the way Disney's Prince of Egypt renders that meeting (click on this bolded text to see it) is pretty potent. The first time I saw it, in the theatre at full volume, it left me breathless, my face soaked with tears.
The Bible says that Moses spoke with God as a man speaks with his friend. He had several meetings with God. The first was in itself a powerful experience. Life-changing!
But he went even deeper while seeing God's wonders being done in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and getting the ten commandments.
He might have believed that he knew God as intimately as one could possibly know Him. Yet - God had other things to teach him and the most important one was that one can never fully know all there is of God. There is always more.
Moses desired so desperately to know God deeper and deeper. He asked Him, begged Him, to show him His glory. God told him that seeing His face was impossible to survive for human flesh - but He would let Moses see His back parts. When Moses came down from that encounter, his face shone so brightly that people had to ask him to wear a veil over his face when he was with them. He only took the veil off when he went to meet with God again.
That brilliance rested on him for weeks afterward.
After God gave Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle (a tent that would house the Ark of the Covenant when they were not traveling), and it was built, the Levites took the Ark into the tabernacle for the first time and left it in the Most Holy Place. God's presence came down to rest in that enclosed space. Moses thought he could go into the tabernacle and meet with God as he had on the mountain.
But he could physically get no further than the door; the shekinah (glory) presence of God stopped him in his tracks. The manifest presence of God was so great, so powerful, that not even Moses - who had spoken with God as a friend - could get near.
He learned that God is so incredibly great that it is never possible to fathom the depths, the widths, and the heights of His awesomeness. There is always more.
That is a most humbling experience. It is a warning to those among us who would convince themselves that they have a monopoly on God - that He only speaks in this or that way, that He only acts in this or that prescribed manner. He is so much bigger than that. Moses learned this through the things he went through in the wilderness, through years of getting to know God in ever-increasing intimacy.
And he wrote about his experiences so that we would know that there is never an end to the possibilities of going deeper and deeper into God by the power of His Spirit. There is never an end to His love, to His grace, to His patience, to His kindness, to His power, to His integrity, to His justice, to His faithfulness...and so much ...more.
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