Title: Encountering God/ Topic: Intimacy with God

Today’s Reading: Exodus 3; Exodus 4; Exodus 5; Luke 22

Scripture: Exodus 3:5, 6
5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Observation: This scripture has an odd juxtaposition. First, God tells Moses not to come any closer, maintaining a certain distance between his manifestation (the burning bush) and Moses, then he tells Moses to take off his shoes because he is in a holy place. The taking off of the shoes represents, in my mind, the removal of all barriers or coverings that would come between Moses and the Lord. These two commands seem contradictory. But there are other places in the Bible where God says that we could not take it if we saw the Lord in all his glory face to face. Something about the awesomeness of God's power and glory must be too intense for us to handle in our sinful condition. Yet God has always sought to have an intimate, genuine, and truthful relationship with us as his beloved children. So he has Moses remove his shoes. They are a man-made covering designed to protect his feet, but Moses needs no protection from or barrier between himself and God. Neither do we.

Application: God is the one who knows how much of himself I am able to receive any any given point in my life and he is therefore the one who sets the boundaries of how close I can come, but whenever I come to him, I need to come without pretense and without hiding anything. No part of me should be inaccessible to God. I must not be concerned about presenting a certain image to him but must come in humility and truth.

Prayer: Father, I want to come to you as a child, with an open honesty and a humble heart. I want to abide in the safety of the boundaries you set for my own good without setting any boundaries on you. Do your will in my life Lord, and I will praise you for it.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.