Encountering God the Father

“Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”—Exodus 3:6 (NIV)

I love basketball, and I always thought I was pretty good at it. In fact, at one point, I even thought I could play in the NBA one day. But then I had the opportunity to actually see the professionals up close and personal and realized I couldn’t even come close to their greatness. I wasn’t athletic enough, tall enough, strong enough, fast enough . . . you get the idea.

There’s something that happens when you hold yourself up to the gold standard of something. I will never be LeBron or Michael Jordan. Moses had a similar encounter with God, and we can learn a lot from it.

In Exodus 3, Moses is a shepherd who encounters God in a burning bush—and his reaction was to hide his face, because he was scared to look at God. Scared may not be the best word to use here though; it’s just an English word we have to describe it. What Moses experienced in this moment was a deep reverence for the presence of God the Father. Moses had a realization of how imperfect/wicked he was, but how perfect/good God is. I could go on and on. Once Moses was in the true presence of perfection, goodness, love, etc., he realized he wasn’t even close to those things, just as I did with those NBA players.

I love that Moses’ relationship with God didn’t end there though. By the time we get to Exodus 33, Moses had grown closer in his relationship with the Lord. And he makes this request: “Now show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18 NIV). “Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 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. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen” (Exodus 33:21–33 NIV).

Do you see this? During Moses’ first encounter with God, he turned away out of reverence, but after he grew in his relationship with God, he wanted to see Him—and God allowed him! God wants a personal relationship with us—and it doesn’t even end there.

In the very next chapter, we see Moses continued to learn God’s heart and law, and he eventually returned to his people. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him” (Exodus 34:29–30 NIV).

When we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we’ll start to reflect Him to the world around us. We’re sanctified, and as we continue to grow in our relationship with the Lord, we’ll become more and more like Him every single day! May we never lose our reverence for God the Father as we continue to grow in our relationship with Him.