Intimacy with God: Knowing His Ways
Devotional Encouragements #6
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. [ Ps 103:7 ]
In this passage in Psalms, David gives a profound insight about God’s dealing with Israel in their historical past. Referring to the time when the Israelites came out of Egypt, David had the revelation that there was a difference between how God related to the people, and how He related to Moses.
Moses did not just know God’s “acts,” His miraculous signs and wonders, which He performed on the behalf of the Israelites to deliver them from bondage (the plagues against the Egyptians and the supernatural provision in the desert). Moses knew God’s ways, the nature and character of God, and the reasons and purposes behind each one of His acts. Moses had “behind-the-scenes” access to all that God was doing, and this special awareness led to deeper intimacy between him and God.
Why did Moses have this deeper, more intimate relationship with God, while the rest of the Israelites didn’t? The truth was, God desired all Israelites to enter into intimacy with Him, but the people were afraid. In Exodus 20:18, we find that:
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."
Let us not fall into an unhealthy fear of God, and shrink back from His presence. But let us come boldly before His throne (Heb 4:16) as sons and daughters of the living God. Let us press in to know Him (Hosea 6:3), to know not just His acts, but His ways.
