Not Your Moses’ Mountain Top, Week 5 Day 1, Exodus 19
This is the first mountain top experience. This is a scary encounter with the Lord God
Almighty. At first only Moses gets to go up
on the mountain top. Even though the
rest of the people are not allowed on the mountain, they still have to prepare
themselves. The people have already said
that they “will do everything the Lord has said.” But Moses and only Moses is allowed on the
mountain. Later Aaron is allowed to join
Moses on the mountain, only two out of a whole bunch of refugees on their way
to becoming a nation.
And when I read about this first mountain top experience I
think how odd it is that many Christians use the phrase “mountain top
experience” to describe a time when they felt particularly close to God. Moses’ encounter is so Old Testament that I
find I have a hard time relating his encounter with God to the encounter that we can
have today.
In Moses’ day, only the special, only the chosen one is
allowed to go up on the mountain and meet directly with God. Today, by the blood of Christ we are able to
approach the Lord God Almighty directly.
While Moses was a singular experience reserved only for a chosen few, today
everyone who is covered by the forgiveness offered through Christ Jesus can
stand before God.
In Moses’ day, to even touch the mountain is a death
sentence. But today, for those that are
in Christ, we can approach God in the new life that He’s gives us because we
are united with Christ in His resurrection.
In Moses’ day, they needed to warn those not invited to stay
away. But today Christians are to
proclaim the Gospel and invite everyone they can to join us in the presence of
God.
In Moses’ day they had to outwardly and ceremonially cleanse
themselves to even be near the mountain where Moses would meet with God. But today, all who are willing to admit that
they are unclean and only God can cleanse their soul can come into the presence
of God.
In Moses’ day God is the God of special effects, thunder and
lightning, a thick cloud and a loud trumpet blast. A Hollywood blockbuster to be sure. But today God can do the special effects or
come in a still small voice and everything in between. It’s less about the outside and all about the
inside.
Of course if my memory serves me correctly, God did the
still quite voice thing in the Old Testament too. So maybe He really hasn’t changed all that
much. But maybe how we interact with Him
has changed.
I’m glad we don’t have to do it the Moses way today. I’m glad that it’s not only one person or two
that gets to go up the mountain. But the
biggest change between us and Moses is that we don’t need a burning bush or a special
effects filled mountain top to be in the presence to God. We can experience that presence where ever we
are and in every moment of our lives.
So why is it that sometimes we’re so busy looking for a
mountain top? We can experience God here with us in every
moment of every day if we’ll just open our hearts and enter into His presence. It’s doesn’t need to be about a special place
for a special meeting. God wants to
spend the day with us. God wants to be a
part of our everyday, every moment lives and not be relegated to just a
precious few mountain top experiences.
God, I don’t know if I’ve got any mountain tops on my travel
itinerary for the day. I don’t think
there’s and dark clouds, lightning and thunder in the forecast for today. Although we really could use some rain here
in California if You wouldn’t mind. So maybe
it’s not going to be a special day in terms of the location or the circumstances. But where ever You take me today and what You
have for me to do, it could be a special day if I remember that You are with me
every moment of the day. Amen
Leonard
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