God as My Friend

Scripture Reading: Exodus 32 –34

Verses of Note:
Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. You call me by name and tell me I have found favor with you. And the Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, I will give you rest – everything will be fine for you. And the Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and you are my friend.”
Exodus 33:11-17

I spent part of the day yesterday talking to a friend who had been explaining the continuing efforts to read her Bible daily in order to complete the final chapter by the end of the year. I was explaining to her about a time where I had been able to experience God in an incredibly personal way and how I missed the blessings I received during that time. Some of the blessings were financial, but the experience itself was an unimaginable blessing as well. I continue to struggle how to return to that experience. We know that it is not God who moves from us, but we who move away from him. Unfortunately, I stand at the edge of a dense wood and I am finding it difficult to identify the original path I walked.

At the urging of my pastor and others I began reading my Bible again. I bought a Daily Devotional Bible that takes you through the Bible in a year. And though I miss reading, often, I still found myself closer to Him, but I am only just along the forest edges. I still had not found the path to the ‘secret place’. That place where there was true, complete connection. I remembered a book I had read about Praise, Worship, and Glory. During the time I was reading that book I, and even the company I worked, for had received great blessings from God. So I began to read this book again. As I read I found a second path, this one further into the forest but it too did not take me to the ‘Secret Place”.

I admit that the desire for the monetary blessings was part of my motivation for all this. I have my own company and need the blessings of God to run it. I guess in truth I should consider this God’s company and desire to run it for Him, since every part of the company has been by the Grace of God. But I won’t let Satan trick me into thinking that just because a small portion of my motivation is based on a desire for monetary gain (which actually is the result of desperation rather than greed), I should scrap the whole search as unworthy. While the motive is true, I know with every fiber of my being that the end result is a far greater blessing. This blessing goes beyond the reality of the natural and is truly supernatural; it is also available for any of God’s children. And I know to the very core of my soul, it is also God’s greatest desire to give it to us. It is the closest I can find for the very purpose of our whole existence. As I read the passages above I recalled that I had not been reading my Bible regularly, nor had I even conceived of the experience of the Glory of God!

I truly believe God’s greatest desire is to have us as His friend: to go beyond reading His Word; to do more that just spend time with Him; but to just ---- Be His friend. I think the best advice I ever saw on friendship (you’ve probably heard this too) is: “If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend!” Well, I believe the same is true of our heavenly Father. Look what He tells us through Moses. Exodus 33 tells us that each day Moses went to the Tent of Meeting; the Lord would come to the entrance to the tent and speak to Moses face to face; as “a man speaks to a friend.” (Ex 33:11) Can you see the relationship they had? It makes me wonder. Would God have spoken to Moses as a friend if Moses had not been a friend back? I can almost imagine God’s great desire to be our friend; more than a desire but a need. Funny thing is I need God’s friendship even more.

What are the blessings of being God’s friend? For Moses it meant he could ask God anything and God would grant it. It the scripture God has decided to destroy the Israelites and begin a new nation through Moses, but Moses pleads with God not to. His friendship won the lives of the Jewish nation that day. However, the Lord responds that though He will guide them to the Promised Land, He will no longer stay with the Jewish people on their journey. Can you imagine traveling to a place of great blessing but without the company of the Lord Most High? Moses responded by pleading with God not to leave His people alone. I am always impressed by God’s answer. Though Moses pleads that God stay with the Jewish people God’s answer is that He will not leave Moses. God’s promise of rest and that everything will be fine is to Moses. What the Jewish people received in this deal was the overflow of the promise God made with Moses. The most wonderful thing I believe I could ever hear would be a response from God: “I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and you are my friend.” (Ex 33:17)

Imagine a deep wood, there is a pathway and along the pathway is a large clearing with several benches. There is a bright light that shines on the trunks of the trees as though the light source is off in the distance. There are people here basking in the warm of this glow, but just a little farther is a small area in the underbrush revealing an opening with a beautiful ornate gate. The gate is open and one person is venturing around it. Beyond the gate is a clearing in the wood barely seen between the tree trunks and underbrush, where the source of the light can almost the identified. If you look closely you can see the edge of a large chair. Seated in the chair are two figures. The smaller of the two sits leaning on the second, larger, and very bright figure, the source of the light. The fingers of the two figures are entwined with one another. And the arm of the larger figure is wrapped around the smaller. Behind the smaller figure and partially encircling it is a large, white wing.

Prayer: Lord, I don’t want to just sit in the warmth of your Glory, I’d rather sit with You! I ask that everyone be shown that small, beautiful gate; that they may also come sit with you, their best friend! AMEN

Does God Care?

Have you ever wandered if God really cares? The world tells us man is insignificant, when you look at the physical evidence from a cosmic perspective this must be true. Imagine:
· The universe is believed to be made up of billions of galaxies.
· Our Milky Way Galaxy contains over 100 billion stars.
· Our planet is but a tiny speck on the outer edge of that galaxy.
· Man has been cynically described as a semi-invisible rash on the skin of a sub-microscopic planet in a second-rate solar system. No wonder we have such a low opinion of our self worth. And if our physical existence is so insignificant, what is the spiritual importance of man? It is hard to believe that the Creator of the cosmos cares. The writer of Psalms 8:3-4 must have had this question on him mind when he asked, "When I consider Your heavens, what is man that You are mindful of him?" We can rest assured that God cares for everyone as if we each were the sole object of His loving attention. Psalm 147:3-4 contrasts the star-studded sky with the hurts of a single soul: "He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name."

Colossians 1:17, says that in Christ "all things consist." This means that in His providence, the Son of God holds all things together and keeps our world in motion. What would happen if God's mind wandered? Trees would crash to the ground. Water would pour out of the oceans. The planets would go spinning off through space. However, most important, prayers would be unheard and unanswered. In addition, those He protects would be left vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. However, that could never happen. Why? Because God never sleeps. He who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:3) He is watching over our world --- and us --- all the time, and not from a distance as Bette Midler would have you believe. We are ever at the center of His attention and His care. We are secure because we love and serve a God whose mind never wanders. It’s mind-boggling! The wisdom and the power that sustains the whole cosmos are focused on every believer. What a source of confidence and strength when we experience weakness and doubt!

Keeping that in mind, it should be easy to go peacefully through life without worry, right? Do you worry? Jesus taught that we are not to worry about anything. If you have given yourself to God, you don't have to worry about life's necessities. God Himself has assumed responsibility for your food and clothing. In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus pointed to the birds and said, "They don't plan ahead or worry about the future, but God takes care of them. Aren't you more important than they are?" That doesn't mean we get what we need by doing nothing. Birds must scratch and search for food. The point is they don't worry about it. Jesus instructed us to center our lives on God's kingdom. Then clothing, food, and drink will be ours as well. Look at it this way: If you center your life on anything else, you'll ultimately leave it or it will leave you, and you'll have missed out on God. Nevertheless, if you center you life on God and doing His will, all these other things are thrown in. All we have to do is depend on Him.

One day a seven-year-old boy and his mother had been talking about what it means to trust God. They had settled on the phrase "depend on." The young boy's prayer experiment was going to be this: Every time he encountered a situation beyond his control, he was to say, "Jesus, I depend on you." That day at recess, he kicked the soccer ball and his shoe flew off his foot and into a private yard next door. He was not allowed to go into the yard and had to call his mother to come get his shoe. Mother was not at home. The young boy hung up the phone in the school office and said, "Jesus, I depend on you." As he headed back to his classroom, the custodian was walking in the front door with his shoe in her hand. For months after that, no matter what happened, the little boy would say, "I'm not going to worry. Remember? Jesus found my tennis shoe!"

There is also the story of a poor man in Ireland who was plodding along toward home, carrying a huge sack of potatoes. A horse and wagon came along and the driver stopped to offer him a ride. The man accepted and climbed up on the seat alongside the driver but kept holding the bag of potatoes in his arms. When the driver suggested that he lay it down on the wagon floor, the man replied warmly in his Irish Brogue, "I don't like to trouble you too much, sir. You're a givin' me a ride already, so I'll just carry the potatoes!"

We do the same when we try to carry life's burdens by worrying about them instead of turning them over to God. No wonder we become weary, our hearts faint within us, and we lose courage. Any circumstance over which we have no control can become a "bag of potatoes" if we fret and worry about the outcome. There will always be some burdens we will have to bear, but even those become lighter when we trust the Lord to give us the grace and strength to bear them.
Always ask yourself, "Is this burden one that God wants me to bear? Or does He want me to let Him carry it?" There's no way you'll overburden Him.

Actually, worry could be seen as a form of taking on God's responsibility. Worry, in its naked form, comes very close to doing just that. There was a sign in a church foyer that read: Do not feel totally, personally, irrevocably responsible for everything. That's My job. ---- God.
This advice does not excuse us of all responsibility, however, the truth of the statement lies in the words totally, personally, irrevocably, and everything. We often feel that we must solve all our problems ourselves, and that unless we come up with the right solution all will be lost. It's like the morning I went to get in my car and found a large puddle of water under it. I filled it up with water, ran my errands (quickly) and returned home. I called my dad to come look. Sure enough, it was the water pump. I called the mechanic to get an estimate on the cost of the repair. The part was $35.00 and the labor was $160.00. I had been out of a job for six (6) months; there was no money for the repair. Dad brought my brother over and they looked at the car and discussed how difficult it would be to replace the pump. Then for two days, I heard nothing. My husband and I discussed how we were going to come up with the money to repair the car and how we wished my dad would repair it for us, but we couldn't ask him. We were certain he was too busy enjoying his retirement. Surely, he wouldn't want to fool with it or he would have said something by now, right? The next day, as my father was giving me a lift to a church program, he and I were talking and some how the car repair came up. It was funny; I didn't want to ask him because I didn't want to impose. He desperately wanted to help, if only I would ask him. I did! I began to ponder this and pray about it. I was certain the Lord had a lesson in this for me but I didn't quite get it.

That night my son brought home a progress report from school. An F in English, his best subject. I was in shock. He sheepishly explained that he had missed turning in an assignment because he didn't have access to a library. My reply was: "Why didn't you ask me for help? That's what I'm here for!" As I stood in his room, everything hit me at once. I was just like my son trying so hard to do everything for myself. I didn't want to bother my father, just as my son didn't want to bother me. God wants us to rely on His guidance. When problems arise, our first duty is to bring them to Him in prayer. He may show us that we've created our own difficulty, and may reveal that we must make changes to resolve it. He'll grant forgiveness and give the strength to change. Or He'll assure us that we're doing all we can, and say, "Leave it with Me. Just do your next duty."

Only God has sufficient energy and wisdom to handle everything well. Worry will gradually lose its hold on our lives if we learn to stop playing God. But what does it mean when we pray and pray about a matter of extreme importance, but nothing happens. Nothing! Have you ever been on the phone and you were asked to hold? Usually before you can reply your listening to music and every so often a taped message assures you that your call will be answered. You wait and wait. You think, I could have driven over there and back by now! You feel forgotten and that nobody cares. Sometimes it seems that God has put us on hold. The book of Samuel tells of a woman named Hannah. She kept asking God for a baby. Childlessness was a curse in her day. To make it worse, her husband's other wife ridiculed her mercilessly. Hannah wanted desperately to give her husband a child. She prayed out of deep pain and bitterness. Yet, year after year she did not conceive. I'm sure Hannah felt like she had been put on hold, that is if she knew what a telephone was.

How can we handle the apparent silence of God to our repeated prayers? Its important to remember that God's wisdom surpasses our own. We can't see the whole picture. It’s possible that what we’re asking for will harm us. Or maybe its just that our timing is not God's timing.
When God puts you "on hold," don't grumble. You can always entrust your most cherished longings and desires to Him, and then patiently wait for Him to answer. Psalm 37:7 says, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” We simply have to remember that God cares about us and He never stops caring about us, no matter what happens to us or around us. Because He cares about us, He doesn't want us to worry about anything. He is protecting His children the way a loving parent protects a children. As a loving parent, He wants to take care of us and all we have to do is ask. When we don't allow Him to take care of us we are trying to play God. Sometimes when we ask, He doesn't answer. When this happens we have to be patient and wait for His will to be made known to us because ultimately He knows what is best.