A Face To Face Friendship With God

"Today's Devotion" For February 11, 2006

Read: Exodus 33:7-11; Numbers 12:1-6

A FACE TO FACE FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

"The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

How many friends do you have? My son and I were discussing this just the other day. As I mentioned earlier this week, he had been home on predeployment leave from the Marine Corps (he goes back to Iraq in a month) and had spent a great deal of time with his friends. I noted that it was a pleasant surprise that he came home as he had earlier determined he wouldn’t be home until October, when he returned from Iraq. He responded that, besides seeing us, he needed to see his friends before he left. He didn’t want to wait until he came back to the States. After all, he noted, he only has a few people he can really call "friends" - people who will stick with him in "thick and thin," "come hell or high water." That’s something I to which I can relate – perhaps that’s true of you also.

There's no doubt that a true friendship is one of the most valuable and beneficial resources any of us have in our lives. To have at least one human being besides a spouse, parents, brothers, sisters, sons, or daughters to depend upon is critical to our well-being as persons - someone in addition to our loved ones who won't turn his or her back on us even if we've committed the most heinous deed. It's a relationship born out of shared experiences, shared values, and, most especially, a shared faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. To have one such friend in life, besides one's spouse, parents, siblings, or children, is to be doubly blessed by God.

However, no matter how intimate and fulfilling a relationship we may have with members of our families or a close, personal, true friend, nothing can compare with the offer of friendship our Father in heaven offers us. There is, perhaps, no greater picture of this truth than that which is found in the Book of Exodus, where we read that "the Lord would speak to Moses, as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex. 33:11). Every time I read this section of Scripture I am awestruck by this picture. So great was the depth of relationship God had with Moses that Moses actually heard God speaking to him - they were "face-to-face," if you will, in their conversations. It's a picture of the kind of friendship our heavenly Father offers to each of us through faith in Jesus Christ. It's a picture of the friendship our heavenly Father establishes with us through the washing of Holy Baptism, as His Word and Spirit cleanse us from our sins and declare us to be His own dear children in Christ. It's a picture of the friendship our heavenly Father offers to each of us when He calls us to read His Word and bring our petitions and intercessions before Him in prayer.

Today, February 11, 2006, is a Saturday. Tomorrow, Sunday, a good many of us will be worshipping once more in the company of our fellow believers in a church. Those of us who attend a church that has a more formal liturgy, will be reminded that we are entering into the House of God and, thus, are being ushered into His presence. Through the Word and Sacraments God will be coming to us and speaking to us :"as a man speaks to his friend," so that we might be lifted up to Him and bask in His majesty and rejoice in His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

The intimate friendship that God offers to us in Jesus Christ is just that - His offering to us. We don't go looking for Him - He comes looking for us to save us from ourselves. Our heavenly Father's greatest statement of friendship and love is Jesus Christ, His one and only Son, who took on our human form, put Himself under obedience to God's Law in our stead, and then, as the sinless, perfect, and holy Son of God, carried the burden and guilt of our sins upon Himself on the Cross - in our place. Because of Christ, God looks at us now through Jesus' blood and righteousness and sees as spotless, pure, and holy - cleansed of all Sin. Truly, in Christ, we also have that special gift of God offered to us, just as He offered it to Moses - a face to face friendship with God.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You have called me by name in Holy Baptism and made me Your very own child. You have forgiven me of all my sins and declared me holy and righteous before You for the sake of Christ. Send Your Holy Spirit to help me to grow in faith toward You that my relationship with You, through Christ my Lord and Savior, may grow more and more intimate. Bring me into a "face to face relationship with You" each day of my life through the power of my Baptism and the strengthening of my faith through You Word and Spirit. As You spoke to Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and all Your Church on earth in past times, speak also to me, gracious Father, that I may grow ever closer to You and ever more faithful in my service to You and others in Jesus' name. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.