In today's church language, worship has become a word synonymous with music. But at the cornerstone of Biblical worship is an encounter with God and a response from man. King David was extravagantly declarative in his language, expectations and expressions of encountering God. He asked this question- "When can I go and meet with God?". Today, we must return to this simplicity and clarity with which we consider our relationship with God.Life On Earth
As the Christian church, our history has taught us that our life here on earth actually matters. In the midst of living as the spiritual creation God made us to be, we are physical, flesh and blood people. The interlocking worlds of physical and spiritual were not seen as wholly separate existences to the ancient Christians. The integrated life consisted of being present to our earthly existence into which God Himself lives and breathes His purposes through the works of His hands and the bodies of his friends. The earthly/heavenly union and creational understanding is part of the essential points at which Gnosticism was defeated as a doctrine in the early church, though it often lives on in manifestations of "being so spiritually minded we are no earthly good". God's example in Christ should have taught us the lesson clearly. He engaged with humanity in an inseparable union, by becoming the embodiment of God-on-earth in the person of Jesus Christ. He didn't do that once for a "test run" or to temporarily get something done. He became incarnate for all time. Jesus, though glorified, in the book of John's Revelation remains the wounded, but victorious Person who is the Lamb of God. He does not transmute into another kind of form, but stays in the form of human, though glorified, body.
So here we are. We live in this earthen, stain-filled world. And while we do, we look for interaction with God in the here and now. It has been this way for centuries. One conversation that broaches this realm of both heavenly and earthly reality is the question about how do we meet with God? Where can we talk with Him? Does He meet us in our physical time and space? How does God relate to us in the physical world, if at all?
Thankfully, the scriptural record is replete with examples of God meeting with man over the centuries, choosing to initiate the contact and reaching out in relationship. He walked with Adam and Eve in cool of the evening in the garden. He met with Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah) in their camp. He came down and visited Moses in the burning bush, at the tent of meeting, on Mount Sinai, and walked by him in glory and goodness (while hiding Moses for safety in the cleft of a rock). He visited and spoke with Elijah in the whispering voice near the cave. He met David in the songs and psalms, and visited Solomon in the glory of the temple. In the context of the New Testament times, God had such a great desire for relationship with us (but knew our brokenness and hardness of heart would not pursue Him) that He became a physical man and came to earth in bodily form. He dwelt among us. And even when his physical body met an earthly death, his separation from us (and the Father) became the payment for a release of God's Spirit from one chosen localized place (the Temple in the old covenant model) into the omniscient Comforter and Holy Presence that dwells with all who call on His name, in all places, at all times (New Testament model of being poured out on all flesh- Act 2:17).
Where Does God Meet Us?
So where do we meet with God now, to seek Him, his counsel, and His friendship? In the broad sense, God's omniscience allows Him to meet us anywhere. But Christ recognized that we are flesh and blood people, trapped on a visceral world in a specific time and space. So He helped people by explaining where they might locate God in the scope of their personal lives and speak with him:
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. (Matt 6:6)
The context of this instruction was Jesus's grand preaching session which we call the Sermon on the Mount. Christ is giving extended learnings on the unconventional nature of the citizens of the kingdom ("the blessed" of Matthew 5), the principles of life in "kingdom of heaven" (the remainder of Matt. 5), the guiding principles of giving, prayer, fasting and living in simplicity (throughout chapter 6), and the deep matters of of the heart (in chapter 7). This instruction on prayer in Matt. 6:6 is specifically aimed at guarding against hypocrisy from creeping into our relationship with God, as seen in the previous verse in this same chapter (Matt 6:5, where Jesus is warning the disciples about praying in public for the attention and affections of others).
Additionally, it is important to note what Jesus did not say about location in meeting with God. He did not say "go to the temple" or "speak to the priest". While we often assume there are "authorized" locations for meeting God (as did the woman at the well in John 4), Jesus dispels this notion by declaring that meeting with God is not tied to a location ("neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem" John 4:21) but that it is instead dependent on the Spirit of God and the desire of the worshipers to draw near to God ("Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." John 4:23). This does not eradicate a call to unity, or the scriptural directive to live in community both for our benefit and that of others. But clearly our personal lives must have something personal with God at the core.
The Matt 6:6 text is clear. We must "go into our room". "Go into your room" is a clear definition about the personal space of our lives being the meeting place for God. Certainly there is a larger community to which the faithful can join with in unity. But the core of meeting with God is an assumed, even planned, practice ("when you pray") of personal ("your room"), private ("close the door") and relational ("your Father") interaction that fuels our lives, comforts our hearts and centers us to the priorities of the Living God, as articulated in the instruction Jesus gives in "the Lord's Prayer".
Personally Responsible To Meet God
Though the Matt 6:6 passage points us away from the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Jesus is doing more than just tending to our hearts about a prayer in this passage. He is placing the "access" to the Lord God squarely within the privilege and responsibility of each person. Jesus was bringing the "meeting with God" activity into the realm and heart of the everyday Joe. Jesus is trying to break against a mindset that the Israelites were fond of propagating- where the "man of God" becomes the intermediary for the people. The Israelites then (as with us now) quickly gravitated to this kind of thinking. This belief can be seen as early as their encounters with God at Mount Sinai. This is what happened:
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." (Exodus 20:18-19)
Admittedly, it seems that the people of Israel were responding partially from the context of "trembling in fear". But even in this specific incident, God was actually wanting to meet with all the people, though He wanted them to be consecrated. He said to Moses,
"Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." (Exodus 19:10-11)
By this, God was indicating that He wanted to meet with everyone, not just Moses. This point is reiterated by the description of the uses of the tent of meeting found in chapter 33, where verse 7 says :
Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
Note that it says that "Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting." Further, some were even allowed to stay in the meeting place with God as long as they wished.
Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exodus 33:11b)
Asking God To Meet UsOld Testament examples of God visiting a physical place and person (people) are numerous. One of the most profound examples is the personal encounter He has with Moses later in chapter 33 and 34 of Exodus. The inquiry begins with Moses making a plea to God by asking:
Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth" (Exodus 33:15-16)
The Lord quickly responds:
And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." (Exodus 33:17)
Old Testament and New are full of examples of men and women asking God to be near them. David's expressive cry in the Psalms is considered the pinnacle of Israel's poetic response to God's directive to seek a personal encounter with him, when he says in Psalm 27:8 (NASB) 'When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, O LORD, I shall seek." '. God is calling us to ask for a face to face encounter with Him. James reiterates God's promise to come to those who earnestly seek him, resounding what the Proverbs (8:17-19), Jeremiah (29:11-13) and others had said in the Old Testament by declaring in James 4:8 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
He Responds To Our Request
It is clear, God wants to meet us, and is pleased for us to seek and even ask Him for an encounter with Him. Moses understands this about God long before any of those scriptural references were penned. Moses encounters with God had taught Him about God's nature, and even His desire to meet with us. Returning to the Exodus text, immediately after the Lord has declared to Moses that "I will do the very thing you have asked", Moses asks God to "show me your glory". The Lord says in response to his request:
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (Exodus 33:19-20)
God Meets Us On His Terms
Not only is God quick to respond to Moses that He will meet him and bring His glory and goodness, but the Lord explains some details about the nature of his character. Later, in Chapter 34, God comes down and meets with Moses as He promised.
Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:5-7)
What baffles the mind here is not only that God chose to accomodate man, and engage with him at his request, but that He did so by uniquely taking the opportunity to declare who He is and the kind of person He is. Meeting with God was not at the expense of God's nature. He would be Who He is. He would not change his character to assuage men of his holiness. As He said in His first direct encounter with Moses, "I AM who I AM" (Exod. 3:14). God would remain God, and if we are to meet Him, we are to meet Him as He is. He would shelter us from His greatness and overwhelming glory, but He would not change His character to ignore guilt.
This encounter with God sounds so paradoxical to us, because in one passage He declares He will meet personally with Moses, bringing his goodness, mercy, compassion, love, forgiveness and faithfulness. In the same breath God cannot be present without declaring His intention to bring justice and judgment to sin. To meet with God means that we must meet with a complete Person, on His terms. We cannot ask God to become someone less than He is, so that the meeting with Him would be more comfortable and acceptable to us.
Meeting with the King
Returning to Jesus instructions in Matthew 6, to meet with God, we must remove any false motives of glory or adulation from others. Jesus calls us to a singular desire for God, and no hint of using a meeting with God as a place for gaining an audience with men. Christ points us to consider our meeting with God is much less a one-time event and much more a personal, private and relational practice that is to not just "happen" occasionally, but to occur in the constancy of our day ("when you pray") and in the everyday, everywhere space of our personal lives ("go into your room"). Jesus also removes the false notion that meeting with God is the responsibility of someone special, "the clergy", or the "man of God". He places the responsibility and privilege of meeting God on the shoulders of each individual who claims to follow God. Scripture is filled with directives for us to ask God to meet us, and equally filled with example and promise that He will indeed respond to our requests. And when God comes to us, He does so with all His heart (love, compassion, goodness) and all His character (glory, holiness and justice).
Meeting with God means we are meeting with a king- indeed the great King. We are uniquely connected to Him through His own love and promises, and so we can request Him to meet, and He will respond. But our meeting with Him is still with the great King of the Universe, nothing less.'If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than me or else just silly.'
'Then he isn't safe?' asked Lucy.
'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver. 'Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'
King, indeed!
Come Meet With God
God, Himself, wants to meet with you. He wants to meet you in your life, in your personal world. He urges you to call out to Him, to even ask Him to make Himself known to you, in the very real and understandable joys and troubles of your own life. But if you ask Him to come, to meet with you, He will respond. He will meet you in the contrition of your heart, with all the overwhelming love, compassion, goodness, and grace that is so lacking in our sin-filled earthen world. But he is not a pedantic grandfather, ambling his way into our lives, hoping He can one day tuck us into an eternal sleep with his blessings. No! He is a mighty King, filled with power and justice as much as He is filled with compassion and grace. Should you decide to meet with Him, expect nothing less.
Meeting with God,
Kim Gentes