Facing the Presence of the Lord

Blog — July 20, 2009

Any of us who have ever faced the presence of the Lord would have a keen appetite for friendship with Him.

Moses had a passion to know God. He knew that his innermost longings would only be satisfied in an abiding friendship with the Lord. Nowhere was that longing more eloquently expressed when Moses, alone on Mt. Sinai cried out, “O Lord show me Your Glory!”

What brought Moses to this place of this spiritual hunger? What was it that launched him on this journey to the glory of God? To discover that we must go back a bit.

For forty days, Moses had been alone with God, excitedly watching as God laid out a blueprint of which a whole nation could enjoy divine blessing. These were not the dry dictations of a distant god who wanted his creatures to obey his every whim, or the passionless mandates of a judge communicating laws. Here was a loving Father, designing a spiritual environment in which His children could thrive and be happy. And during this tender time, the Israelites were far away at the foot of Sinai, building their golden calf. We are stunned by people who have seen God’s hand of deliverance and were afraid of His presence on Sinai – yet so quickly forgot all this, pooled their golden earrings to make an idol and declared that idol responsible for bringing them out of Egypt.

The shock to the heart of God must be something like what parents feel when a child adult of obstinate fury, or what we feel when we are betrayed by a trusted friend of whom we’ve confided our most intimate feelings. Brokenhearted, God said to Moses, “Go down because your people whom you brought up out of Egypt have become corrupt.”

At that moment Moses, too, must have felt the sting of disappointment. Moses had anticipated Pharaoh’s attack, had prepared himself for the rigors of leading the people across a barren dessert, had steeled himself against the opposition of the devil. But this was so unexpected – this outright rejection of the God who had so graciously displayed His power on their behalf!

Sometimes we are stunned by unexpected disappointments. Disappointment can come like a thief in the night, puncturing our expectations when they are at their highest. This can be devastating. Moses must have felt a sickening blow to the gut when he saw God’s people creating an idol for themselves. And yet this unexpected disappointment led Moses to the crest of divine encounter.
It is encouraging to see that from the staggering disappointment, God led Moses on a journey that ended in a glimpse of His glory. It is encouraging to realize that sometimes the unexpected disappointments in life actually are God’s call to us to a deeper more intimate relationship with Him.

Perhaps we have let past disappointments affect us. Perhaps we have unknowingly buried things causing us to react to people in unhealthy ways… or perhaps we have unconsciously developed negatively attitudes because of hurts we have never come to term with. If we have allowed our hearts to grow hard, or lowered our expectations so as not to get hurt again, our withdrawn from someone simply because they’ve disappointed us… we can take solace in the reality that if we let the Holy Spirit do His work in us we too – like Moses – can be brought face to face with glory!