FIRST, PICTURE MOSES at the time of his call from God. He sees a bush burning at the foot of “Horeb, the mountain of God.” (Ex. 3:2) His curiosity draws him closer, and he suddenly hears a voice calling his name, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am.” Moses replies. (Ex. 3:4) God then says, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:5) Immediately, God establishes a barrier between himself and Moses, but it is one that is readily removed by the symbolic act of Moses taking off his sandals.
Now, picture Moses at the top of this same mountain, quite some time later. He has challenged pharaoh Ramses II for the Hebrew slaves of Egypt throughout ten plagues. (cf. Ex. 7:14–12:30) He has led the freed Israelites through the parted waters of the sea to the safety of the desert beyond and towards a promise of a land of their own. (cf. Ex. 14:15 – 14:31) He stands now, three months after leading this vast number of people out of Egypt (cf. Ex. 19:1), on top of the mountain of God, receiving the new Covenant of the Law: “Two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed.” (Deut. 9:10; cf. Ex. 20:1-17, Deut. 5:6-21) Moses had spoken God’s warning to all the people below. “Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.” (Ex. 19:12) And the people heard and understood! “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’” (Ex. 20:18-19)
We learn from this that drawing near to a holy God is fearful. This is a powerful and visible God, who “went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” (Ex. 13:21) This is a jealous God, angry with rebels—the people watched as “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead.” (Num. 16:32-33) How can anyone approach such a God?
David asks the same question, and after his time it becomes a consistent theme in scripture. “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” (Psa. 15:1) It is a rhetorical question, immediately answered: “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous.” (Psa. 15:2) Solomon reflects on his father’s thoughts. “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, (Ecc. 7:20 {cf. Psa. 14:1-3, Psa. 53:1-3}) It is the same issue the apostle Paul addresses. “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10)
This is a question we must also answer. How do you and I draw near God, when we are each part of ‘no one who does what is right and never sins?’ We know the answer already. “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb. 10:19-23)
Ah, but so often we waver in this confidence; we are assailed by the wiles of the enemy, and sometimes fall prey to his temptations. Then the forces of honor and shame struggle within us, and drawing near to God becomes fearful. We spend time in the tension between the accusing voice of Satan and the tender whisper of God—it is an uncomfortable place, but even this is the grace of the Father. Without the Spirit-led shame of a disturbed conscience, how would we return from unrighteousness? John has shown us the way of renewal. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) It is a way we have traveled before, and need to remind ourselves of when our feet have strayed from the path.
And here is a sobering but reassuring truth. We have erred before, and we shall do so again, despite our efforts, even our best efforts. The sin nature is an endemic condition of the natural man, one only relieved in God’s eyes by the victory over sin by the righteousness of Jesus, and therefore the only remedy in God’s eyes for our sins. “But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1)
Our stumbling approach to God, with its lifetime of steps forward and back, sometimes drawing near in desperate hope, other times falling back in despairing cry, is one familiar to God. He has watched everyone he calls to himself make this same journey. Even Moses had his moments. “What if they do not believe me or listen to me?” (Ex. 4:1, cf. Ex. 4:1-17) The disappointments of the early Christian life, with all our efforts to please God, is a lesson leading us to a deeper experience of life with him—one in which we become both aware of our own fallibility, and become deeply grateful and dependent upon Jesus. “For it is by grace you have been saved, not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:7) At the very least, let us keep walking resolutely forward.
Q. How near am I to God?
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