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June26’05 Face to Face
Face to Face
Exodus 33:13-14
Moses was deeply troubled in his spirit. He has just been told that the Lord’s presence will not be with the people as they travel into new territory. God is essentially sending them to do his will without his presence.
You will probably remember that in chapter 32 while God was laying out true worship to Moses that Aaron and the people had made a golden calf and began worshipping it. In fact, Aaron even said referred to the golden calf by saying, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
He had the God right but the image wrong. They attempted to confine God to an image and the result was 3,000 men were killed by the priests that day. The Lord was furious, to say the least.
And now Moses sits in his tent outside of the camp laying it on the line with God. The only hope that kept Israel from being destroyed was their leader Moses- who now prayed on their behalf. The people were holding vigil outside waiting for a sign- any sign that everything was going to be alright.
Thank God for leaders who stand in the gap for their followers. I think of the shop foreman who stands up for his workers with the higher-ups. I think of the teacher who defends her class to the principal. We could even include the basketball coach who takes the blame for a player’s mistakes.
And so we see Moses doing the same. Kneeling before an angry God. Pleading on behalf of the very people that God has chosen and Moses has obediently led. Not only are the people anxious about God’s reaction to them but Moses is anxious about this particular encounter with God.
Let’s remember a few things about Moses and his experiences with God. Moses was the miracle baby who floated down the river. Moses knew early on that he was somebody special. Moses saw and heard God in a burning bush. Moses saw his staff turned into a snake and ate the others snakes; he saw the fierceness of God in the various plagues and attacks on the Egyptians. He saw the Red Sea parted. He saw manna and quail and water from a rock. Moses has received God’s laws from a smoking and flaming mountain. Moses saw a lot of signs of God in his life.
But now Moses wishes to go somewhere that no one else has gone.
Moses desires to know God.
He has seen everything there is to see. It’s like the kid at the carnival who rides every ride, who sees every trick and experiences every rush but now wonders what more is there.
We live in a world that runs from one carnival ride to the next. I love roller coasters. I love the wind blowing through my hair and I love to hear the screams of others on the ride- or are those screams my own? But the ride ends sooner than you want, the day comes to an end and the park closes. What’s next?
Moses has been on the most spectacular rides of anyone’s life. But in his old age he desires not to see another miracle or sign. All the world wants to see more miracles and signs. We want something in order to have something proved. Moses?
In the midst of the people’s complaints, sin and criticism Moses is a man who has become desperate for something more, something real. Well, he wants to see God.
Dennis Kinlaw put it this way: “Most of us enjoy God’s fireworks, but Moses had seen all of that, and his heart still hungered for something more- for God himself.”
And so tonight I want to ask you this simple question: Do you hunger for more of God?
What are we to do in our quest for God in our life? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.” This beatitude challenges us at the very core of who we are.
What do we hunger for in life? What is it that drives us to do the things that we do?
I am convinced that our passions in life will lead us either closer to where God wants us or further away. In fact, there are no fence riders in the quest to know God. Either you want the good life in Christ and will seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, or you won’t. There is really no in between.
Does your heart hunger for God’s signs or for God himself? Do you want another miracle or do you want the miracle-worker?
The Apostle Paul once wrote, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.”
Is there a hunger in your heart such as Moses who says, “…show me now Your way, that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight…”?
Using food and hunger in a positive way as our analogy, I hope to stir within us a yearning for more of God in our life.
First, is there a lack of spiritual food in your life?
This is positive. Oftentimes, God will allow us to go through dry and trying times to increase our hunger for more of Him and His Spirit.
Consider Moses for a moment. He was facing a crisis time in his life. As a leader of the people he realized that he needed something more to go on. And this something was God. There was no way that he was going anywhere with these people without God’s presence.
How about you? Are there some frustrations going on in your life? Believe me when I say that these are times for you as a spiritually mature Christian to realize how much you need of God right now.
Second, is there good food available in your life?
We need to have good food available to us at a given moment. It is important that just as you keep leftovers in the fridge or snack foods on top of it, that you keep some spiritual nourishment available.
One of the practices that I have is I keep Christian magazines and books ready all the time. When I eat my bologna sandwich for lunch I usually have “Christianity Today” in front of me. I have just read through a tremendous book called “The Death of the Church.” Great book for thought!
Another source of spiritual nourishment is Christian music. I listen to the stuff I usually never get to hear otherwise: Christian rock. My suggestion is for you to find a style of Christian music and listen to it on your way to the store, on trips and in your home while housecleaning.
I also have sermons of other preachers that I listen through. I like to take afternoons to listen and take notes of other more learned men of God. I will listen to these guys while on the road as well. Thank God for modern technology.
Maybe you have your so-called “snack foods” of Christian nourishment. If you don’t find some and create a food source for those down times.
Third, are you addicted to certain foods?
Now we all have our favorite foods. Maybe yours is a good steak on the grill. Or it might be ice cream. Maybe it’s coffee. But you have something that is a favorite. There is something that stirs those hunger pangs.
Your source of hunger should include some favorites. I love my Watchman Nee book entitled “The Spiritual Man.” Other books include Francis Schaeffer and Ravi Zacharias. I like to go back to these oldies but goodies and review stuff that may have a different look today.
A.W. Tozer suggested to Dennis Kinlaw that rather than find a good book to read, go back to the old “good” books.
Maybe you are addicted to a daily devotional. It is not unheard of for someone to read through the same devotional year after year. Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest” is an old favorite of many. “Streams in the Desert” was my foster mom’s.
Create an addiction to certain sources. Of course you want to realize something else in balancing these things:
Fourth, feed on the very life of Christ.
Jesus calls on us to feed on his flesh and drink his blood. Of course, we take this not in the literal sense except to say that communion is a time of remembrance and rededication.
To feed on Christ calls for us to be in prayer, reading the scriptures and encouraging the saints. Feeding on Christ is about more than participating in communion- as important as that is. Feeding on Christ is getting into the very life of Christ- studying who He is, what He did and how He did it. Learn about Jesus and then live the Jesus life.
When we ingest food or drink the digestive system begins to process whatever we have put into our mouths. In fact, if a diabetic is in a low-sugar state, you can put sugar between the gums and cheek- it will immediately start being absorbed by the body.
When we take into our life the very life of Christ, a so-called digestive process begins to take place. Our spiritual being is nurtured from the inside out.
I remember when my children were very young. It seemed as though they had more food on themselves than they actually ate. You remember those days with your babies. Somehow they were nourished. But they were only nourished when they ingested food or milk.
Too often Christians fall into attempting to feed themselves from the outside in. It’s like the dehydrated man lying in an lake of water. It doesn’t work that way! You have to drink the water or eat the food in order for it sustain you. You cannot let the warm fuzzies of worship or the spiritual fires of others fill your life. You need to personally feed on Christ by getting into the scriptures and by walking in His light.
We have to ingest Him.
Conclusion
What is it that you hunger for in life? I love good food like the next guy. I love bar-b-qued, deep fried or tossed. I am not too picky about what feeds my hungry body.
But one thing I have learned. For my spiritual life only Christ can fill, only Christ can nourish and only Christ can satisfy. And as we take Holy Communion together, let’s do so not in any ritualistic way, but let’s do so as a time of refreshing our spirit to new heights of glory.