Experiencing God

Ever since time began, God wishes us to have a relationship with Him, to have a divine connection with Him, to experience Him. The evidence for this abounds throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

In our quoted verse, God did not ask Adam where he was because He did not know – He was asking Adam why he was hiding from Him. He was showing Adam His willingness to re-establish the connection between them, no matter what had happened to break it off. It was now up to Adam to decide how close to God he wanted to live his life.

God never intended for us to know Him on a purely intellectual level, He is always longing for us to know Him through unique personal experience. Regarding this we can learn so much from Moses, who had such a remarkable walk with the Lord.

He had an intimate relationship with the Lord:  Deut 34:10 “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.”

He experienced intimate communion with the Lord: Ex 33:11 “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend…”

This gave him special intimate privilege:  Num 12:5 “Then the LORD descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. And the LORD said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the LORD, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the LORD as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

How then are we to go about knowing God in this new, fresh and life-giving way? We must approach Him in humility; willing to learn; with childlike faith because the deeper things of God are beyond our mental capacity to understand. He wants our love more than anything else, which will ensure that we spend time with Him; waiting on Him, and not just squeezing our meeting with Him somewhere in between our rushed daily schedule of activities.

Someone who knew very well what an intimate walk with the Lord looked like, is Walter Beuttler.  Here is his description of one of his personal encounters with Jesus: “As soon as I did this, the Lord walked through the door into the room where I had been waiting upon Him. I did not see or hear Him, but it was so real that sight could not have made it any more real. The Lord walked in, and His presence followed behind Him, which was as a Royal Dignitary walking to His Throne with a long robe following, which spread throughout the entire room.” May this recollection inspire us to move ever closer to God!

Points to ponder:  Refocus. Put Jesus at the centre of everything you do!