"So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mt Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. No man is to come with you, nor let any man be seen on the mountain…" Exodus 34:2-3
If you read Exodus 33:12-23 you will hear the prayer of Moses which is a two way conversation with God. God tells Moses he has found favor in His sight, and He knows him by name. Moses has achieved intimacy with God Almighty. The cry of Moses’ heart is if this is true show me Your ways that I may know You. Moses wants God Himself. Then he cries out, "Show me you glory! God’s amazing response is to reveal His glory is His goodness!
Next we see the longing of God’s heart to reveal all of Himself He can to Moses with the warning no man can see the face of God and live. So the Lord placed Moses in the cleft of a rock, and covered him with His hand until He had passed by. Then He took His hand away, and Moses could look upon His back.
What blesses me is reading in Luke 9:28-35, and seeing Moses’ prayer fully answered when he and Elijah joined Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration. Here Moses and Elijah both looked upon the face of God incarnate when Jesus took on the form of both God and man. One thing is very clear in the Word of God: God wants you; He desires you. Yes, you!
The invitation He extended to Moses in Exodus 34:2-3 is extended to all mankind. The question to ask yourself is do you truly desire to know God intimately, alone without the crowds? Without the works we do on our own initiative , and stamp His name on it. Moses desired God Himself as opposed to the gifts, or greatness. He served God’s pleasures, rather than trying to manipulate God to serve him.
Personal experience and reading God’s Word has convinced me He deserves first place in our day. May I challenge you to meet with Him daily in a quiet, place of solitute alone. Allow this desire to consume you. He will change your life to become His.
And He summoned the crowds and said to them,
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up His cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save His life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Ponder these words of Jesus in a two way conversation of prayer as Moses exemplified for us. What is your honest answer to His question and invitation?
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Nothing I love more than the times of getting to scale to the mountaintops where He truly reveals His glory and goodness! (Buffalo Mountain, Grayson Highland, Buzzard Rock)
