In the months after God called Randy and I to be leaders in ministry of His church; we sought the Lord diligently.  We asked God to lead us, teach us, and give us all He knew we would need for this new journey of leaving what we once knew—public school teaching—to move on to the more challenging work that God had for us while not knowing exactly where God would lead us next.What we did have was the Hope of Heaven living in us which provided the benefits of a loving Father who answered our prayers of need.

Now, many years later, after many growing experiences through trials and testimonies of God’s goodness; we are in a new season of moving with God at His command.  There is still some molding and shaping that God still needs to do to make us all He created us to be and then do.  We know that.  So, we still seek the Lord daily for His will to be done in every aspect of our lives.  What we have learned over the years is that like Moses, if God isn’t going with us then we do not want to go!                

Exodus 33

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Moses and the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is a Friend to Moses.  Moses’ relationship with God is sacred and holy.  But it is also a relationship where Moses is confident enough to speak to God as a Friend who presents the human perspective of God’s created because He knows God can do anything.  Moses does not like to see His Friend angry. 

For Moses, there is no one like God and there never has been anyone like God. Moses not only hears from God as a prophet would with the assignment of passing God’s message to the people; but their relationship is so much more than the work.  Moses and God enjoy their conversations, though convicting and very hard at times. God, as a friend, enjoys being with Moses.

God enjoys being a Friend as well as our Father.  God loves us with a love that is beyond human love.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Consider God as Friend.  God, the Father, sent Jesus, His Son to earth seek and to save the lost.  Jesus was not sent as God’s assistant manager with clipboard in hand to make a checklist of the sins of the world. God already knew them.  God already knows our sins.  We know our sins, too, if we stop to admit our sins—and confess them.  

Let’s recap:  God’s Son Jesus came in the form of infant, born to a virgin and her espoused husband who were also friends of God—devoted friends of faith who believed what God said and did what He directed them to do!  Jesus grew “in stature and wisdom” in His Jewish community and went with other young boys to synagogue school.  As an adult, Jesus made friends among those who began to realize who He was, believe in what He said and followed his teachings from God.  Jesus accepted all who came to Him with a need. Sometimes He went to the needy.  God led him to the wilderness to be tested as he fasted and prayed to His Father.  Jesus defeated the Enemy in the desert with God’s Word of Truth. 

Jesus then began his directed mission of seeking, saving, and healing the brokenhearted and setting the captives free from their own demons. His final act on earth was to willing lay down his life in the place of punishment for our sins.  Jesus, who knew no sin in his life was the perfect sacrifice for all the sins of the world. 

Jesus also gathered a dozen ordinary men, some unschooled, some who caught fish for a living, a business manager, and one who was a tax collector who took copious notes!  They all became friends as followed Jesus and learned from Him.  Jesus was their friend and their Master Teacher; until one of them sold Jesus out to His accusers, the religious who were jealous of him. They were not friends of Jesus and did not want to be! But Jesus, Son of God, became a Friend to each one who believed, loved, and followed Him. 

Jesus explains this Friendship and intimate Relationship with these beautiful words:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:9-17

Jesus becomes our Friend when we acknowledge who He is with what He did to remove our sins.  Jesus gives us a new life of freedom that our old way of living did not provide.  God who knew all believers would need help after Jesus ascended back to heaven sent a Helper, God’s Holy Spirit, to be a part of our being, living with us, to guide us to all Truth in a world constantly tempted by the Deceiver.  

Real friends want to spend time with each other, can’t wait to talk to each other, and go to places that friends enjoy together.  Real friends share honestly and openly with each other. Real friends love each other.

God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, the Three-in-One, desires to be a real Friend to us, One who never leaves us or forgets us. God is ready to pour out His blessings over those who love Him and keep His commands for their good and His glory. God, as our Friend, is always for us, not against us, so He is always at work on our behalf so we can become all He created us to be.  God is always with us.  Yes, there is no like our God!

Lord,

Thank you for being our Friend as well as our Savior and Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen       

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer