Be A Mountain Guide

“Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.” (Ex 24:9-10 AV)

 

Imagine what it must have been like to have an encounter with the God whom Moses spoke with!  The seventy elders along with Aaron and his two sons were exposed to an experience that no others would ever witness.  They went unto higher ground with the man of God.  They met with God, unlike any others.  The spiritual and civil leader of the nation had an encounter with God others might envy.  They saw the Almighty God in ways that could take the lives of others.  We could apply this in several ways.  One that comes to mind is an experience with God does not guarantee a holy life.  These men would descend from the mount having seen God like no others, and within forty days, craft a golden calf to worship in the stead of the God with whom they just met.  Just because we have a once in a lifetime experience with God does not guarantee a life of holiness and righteousness.  Puzzling as though that truth might be, it is nonetheless true.  But what the Spirit desires we contemplate this morning is the role of Moses in the exposer of God to these men.  It is the calling of the man of God to lead those who follow to a closer and more intimate relationship with the God whom he walks with.

When my wife and I were engaged, a funny ( and bordering on embarrassing ) thing happened.  She paraded me around to all her friends and wanted them to know we have gotten engaged.  I distinctly remember going to one of my brother-in-law’s basketball games where everyone who was anyone in our church would be there.  We arrived fashionably late and came in the door, walking towards the bleachers.  Little did I know what was going to transpire.  By the look on Lisa’s face, they could tell what had happened.  Of course, you heard the chorus of responses over and again. “I just knew it!  You two are perfect for each other!”  I was introduced and Lisa’s fiancé.  After a while, I was allowed to use my first name.  LOL.  But then the barrage of questions flew.  Who was I.  What did I do for a living?  When did I accept Christ?  What was my plan to take care of Lisa?  When they heard I was called into ministry, they were even more elated.  They wanted to know if I had started school or how far along I was in my studies.  They wondered exactly what I was going to do.  Would it be a pastorate, evangelism, or missions?  Then came the day I had to be introduced to friends closer to where her parents live.  Same thing.  But then came the day I was introduced to her family who lived out of state.  What an experience that was.  Every time Lisa introduced me to those who were important to her, I didn’t say a whole lot at first.  I didn’t need to.  She babbled on and on about the catch she reeled in.  She bragged on me because she knew me more intimately than any other.  Her joy and love were that which brought others into a deeper relationship with someone they barely knew.

In like manner, it is the calling of those who walk with God to bring others into a deeper knowledge of the one with whom we walk.  Depending on the circumstances, we are either Moses or Aaron.  We are either the one who is walking with God in a deeper way than the one who we are leading, or we are the one needing someone to lead us into a deeper walk.  We can be one or the other at the same time.  It is our job to lead others who are not where we are.  But it is also our deepest need to walk as others walk who are further ahead than we are.  Those men and women who have walked where we have not walked are invaluable to our spiritual experience.  Whether they be authors or men of God who have gone into rest, leaving behind sage words by which to live or contemporary saints who have a relationship with God few understand, it is incumbent upon us to seek them out.  We need to find them and ascend the mountain to the footstool of God that we might know Him as they know Him.  At the same time, others are looking at that same mountain and see you and me a bit further up the slope than they.  We must reach out a hand and assist them as they reach forth into what they see we have.  Moses went up.  But he brought seventy-four men with him.  He didn’t go to God alone.  He brought others with him!