TIGHT WITH GOD

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend...”

There is something I long for more than anything else in the world - to be in God’s presence in my daily walk with God.  I long to be “tight” with Him.  That - I would be able to speak to God face to face and be in an intimate relationship with Him.

But there’s a problem - life happens!  The events of life, the routine’s of life, the day by day pressures drain God’s presence from our lives in our lives.  There has to be a constant re-calibrating and refilling of our lives with the presence of God.

Yes, walking with God and His presence is my desire but I often find myself drifting off the trail to whatever is pressing most in my life.

I was struck this morning in our devotions about Moses and the re-calibration that he needed in his life.  In fact, it seemed like Moses had to have many meeting with God along these lines.

Reading this story helped me see that I’m not the only one who had to do this.  Moses led the way over and over again.

In Exodus 33 we see that Moses was able to to do “face-time” with God but there’s more to the story…. God had to deal with some issues in his life.

There are 3 key words in this story…

1. v.5  "Obstinate  (stiffnecked)
2. v.7  "Sought"
3. v.13  "Show" (know)

These 3 words outline a pathway to restored intimacy with God.

I can relate to all 3 of these words.  There are times that I’m obstinate and stiff necked about God.  I fight Him over everything.

Then, I finally wake up and realize how far away from Him that I’ve become.  It is then that I begin to seek His presence again and to ask Him to show me His glory and that I would again walk in His presence.

Just a thought - I know when I’m walking with God or not.  No one needs to tell me.  I can tell when He and I are good or not.

It is interesting: we know the word worthy relates to "worship" in the Bible.  It also has to do with "weight."

Gr.  oxios  background has to do with the sustenance of a coin.  (Coins that were minted without the technology of today.  In those days just the handling of coins could wear it thin."

When a person would buy something  their coins would be weighed and given their worth.  Often they would be worth less because of their weight but not worthless (with no value).

To be refilled with glory does not require that you have a major sin in your life.  Often times it is just the wear and tear of life which causes a thinness to come in.

God is calling us from anything that is unworthy (that which is not up to the full potential God has for our lives.)

God is calling us to Him to come away from everything that is shallow and shabby in comparison.  God is calling us to come and be renewed.

Our problem is not walking in God's glory or even not having a passion for it but failing to perceive where thinness has come in.

Many things crop up in our lives that are unworthy to God.  The only way back to worthiness is to kneel in His presence and first confess that which is unworthy.

The Psalmist said, "Search me and try my thoughts and see if there be any wicked ways in me."

We must be clothed again in renewal. We must have carefulness in speech, discipline, conduct, entertainment, speech, etc.

Moses repented of his obstinance.  He sought for God’s presence and asked God to show him the way back to God.

When people come from God's presence there is a “shining” as with Moses  Exodus 34:29.

Exodus 34:29 (NKJV) 34:29  Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.  

When Moses recognized that he had drifted away from God and repented - God showed up.  If you are wondering where God is and what happened to the closeness that you once felt - perhaps it's not that God moved away but you did.

God is willing and waiting  for you to make your move.  Blessings await.