“The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” (Exodus 33:11)
Another thing that stands out about Moses and the friendship he enjoyed with God in Exodus 33 is that he wasn’t content to remain where he was in his relationship with God. Which is a fourth lesson for those who become God’s friends. They long to know God more.
Two verses after telling us the Lord spoke to Moses as a man to his friend, Moses says to God, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” (Exodus 33:13).
Moses is hungry like a desperate beggar for more of God. There’s a beautiful thing that happens to those who seek God with that sort of holy desperation. It’s something that people who play at religion will never experience. Psalm 25:14 tells us – “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him.” The Hebrew word that is used here has to do with being a part of an intimate circle where secrets are shared.
Another English translation says, “The Lord confides in those who fear him.” It calls to mind Jesus when he said in John 15:15 – “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made know to you.”
But sadly, we don’t all have the same relationship with God. God is closer to some than others. God reveals more of himself to some than others. Even among Jesus’ 12 disciples, there was an inner circle of Peter, James, and John – and Jesus shared more of himself with them than the others. You may say, It’s not fair. God’s playing favorites. It has nothing at all to do with God playing favorites. It’s simply God’s response to a heart that’s hungry for more of him.
Some people think pastors are closer to God than others. Not true. The verse doesn’t say, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who go to seminary.”
Some people think people who have been Christians for a long time are closer to God than others. Not true. Age does not guarantee maturity. The writer of Psalm 119 said, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.”
This has nothing to do with your age, or your intellect. It all has to do with your heart.
So how do you grow in knowing God? The other day it was announced that an 18th-century Spanish galleon with as much as $17 billion in gold was recently discovered off the coast of Columbia. This wasn’t just lucky. It was the result of an all-out search. Guess what? The Bible says that growing in knowing God is just like that.
Proverbs 2:3-5 says, “If you call out for insight…if you look for it as for silver and search for I as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
Do you have the deep desire to know God more and more? This is the born-again birthright for any child of God. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17 – “I keep asking God…that you may know him better.”
Those whom God brings into his inner circle of friendship have this hunger. Do you?
