Candid Conversations

I read through the One Year Bible on a daily basis and right now we're in Exodus.  It's amazing how the more I read, the more I encounter God.  It's like he's speaking right to me.  That's crazy...and awesome.

Right now I'm in Exodus 32 and 33, and I'm inspired by Moses' relationship with God.  Moses is known as the meekest man in the Bible.  Meek is not weak, it's more like humble.  And in this humility he is always brutally honest and straight forward with God.  He doesn't hold back what he thinks and what he wants.  The amazing thing is that God responds to him.  He listens.  He even changes his mind.

So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people (Exodus 32:14).

Am I honest with God?  Do I hold back what I think?  Do I stop asking?

Later on in Exodus 33:11, Moses writes: "Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend."  That propels me to Jesus' statement to his disciples in John 15:15, "I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me."

What we see with Moses and then with Jesus reveals God's intentions all along.  He's always wanted to talk and walk with us as friends.  That we would share our lives with him, share our hearts, ask, vent, seek, just be real.

I just love Moses' questions and requests.  "Let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully..." "Then show me your glorious presence." (Exodus 33:13, 18).  I just love this.  Moses asks God for clarity on God's promises and God gives it.  He asks for his presence and and God shows him.

Do we believe that God wants this type of candid, honest relationship with us?  If the Bible is the menu that describes the meal, then lets not just read the menu, but take the time to enjoy the meal that it's pointing us to. 

Jesus, help me be candid with you.  Let me not just read these stories, but seek to experience the life that these stories describe.  Thank you for your desire to know me, hear me, and bring purpose and fulfillment to my existence.  Help me respond to your pursuit.

Peace,
Daniel