Exodus 33:9-11 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshipped, each man in his tent door. 11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
Moses had an intimacy with God that many would describe as extraordinary. In Exodus 33 we see how Moses would position himself in a place of solitude to have time with God and God would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend. What does this even look like? Even though What Moses’ might have heard, or seen or felt in these moments are not fully documented in the Word, accounts like this should create a level of curiosity and yearning within every believer. So often we can camp at a relationship with God where we love Him from a distance. We talk about Him, sing about Him, make WhatsApp status’ about Him, tweet about Him, and do all these other stuff whilst maintaining a distance from His heart. For some this distance is caused by sin, others fear, and others simply a lack of understanding as to the depth of access they have into his presence due to the cross. Regardless of what may or may not be holding you back please know that you have been created for intimacy.
God wants to be intimate with you and speak to you as a man speaks with His friend. What is a friend? A friend is someone you have mutual affection with. You commune with them, you share commonalities with them and importantly you speak to them and they speak to you. There is a level of intimacy that makes you friends. Many people would find it odd if I said that I was friends with someone that I don’t speak to and/or someone I only know of. See to know someone and to know of someone are two different things. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of believing that because we have head knowledge of God (and sometimes a lot of it) we know Him whilst actually being far from His heart and far from His feet. It is possible to know a million and one scriptures and not be anywhere near God’s heart; Ask the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. They knew scriptures but they failed to understand that the written Word is to lead all to the Living Word which is Jesus Christ.
The thing is, knowing OF God isn’t actually bad, it is good because that is how true relationship starts. You hear about the fact that God exists, you hear the gospel and you hear about the experiences of others with this same God. This is often how it begins but this is not where it should end. All the truth you know about Him is to lead you to a place of experiencing this truth and this is the place that we should run to. If not the bible will remain a story and not a reality. Jesus will remain a character and not a person. That is the beauty of having intimacy with Jesus in the secret place. Jesus can no longer remain just a story character in your mind when you begin to converse, dialogue and exchange with Him in the secret place. There is a beauty in laying at His feet, communing with the same holy spirit that raised Christ from the dead and hearing from the God that is beyond time and space.
God wants to be closer to you regardless of how close you currently are to Him. Do you know what kept Jesus on that cross? The joy that was set out before Him(Hebrews 12:2). That joy wasn’t just him being restored to the place He was before He left heaven and took on the form of man; It was also YOU. Dwelling in you, and knowing you. Imagining the depth of the relationship He can have with you once His blood is shed to atone for your sin. See what Moses experienced was just a glimpse of the possibilities of what can happen when man is friends with God. It was a foreshadow of the intimacy God is calling His children too because Moses experienced this before Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. He experienced this whilst the veil was closed and man only had animal blood to atone for sin. He experienced an intimacy that shouldn’t have even been possible before the Cross. But I believe that God allowed it and ensured it was documented in the Word to show His children the bare minimum of what would soon be made available.
One might say “But is this possible? God doesn’t speak or interact with man like this any more. That was the past and times have changed”. But to that view I ask you, does God change? Has his desire for intimacy with humanity faltered? Out of God and man who is consistent? It is God. What has happened is that our expectation of God has changed and because our expectation and faith in God has changed our experience with God has changed. The Bible doesn’t make sense if we adopt the view that God is a far of God that we are only to have head knowledge of and not know intimately and experientially. Most of the things that we see God do in the Bible were for Intimacy sake. The Godhead deciding to make man in (Gen 1:27) was for intimacy sake. God walking with Adam in the cool of the day? Intimacy sake. God calling the Israelites out of Egypt as highlighted in Exodus 8:1 was for intimacy sake. God then over the centuries drawing the Israelites back to him when they sinned was for intimacy sake. Most importantly Jesus coming into the world and being crucified for the redemption of humanity was for intimacy sake(John 3:16).
God’s moves are all to bring you closer to His heart. For you to be like Mary who dwelt by the feet of Jesus or like John who lay on Jesus’ chest. If you are waiting on God to make the first move know that He has made numerous moves. One of which is you reading this blog post but the major move was The Cross. He came to earth for intimacy sake, now the question is, how will you respond? From the moment the veil was torn, the Father has been inviting you to come into His chambers and courts.
Saint of God wherever you are in God go deeper into Him. Even if you aren’t currently in God, know that this God wants to commune with you in the secret place. He desires intimacy with you and what He is now asking is for you to believe and to step in.
