God’s Friend

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” Matthew 12:38

I am trying to remember when I asked for a sign from God. I have never been one of those women who asked for a red rose or a white rose or whatever. Not that I think it is wrong to ask for a sign. In Psalm 86:17, David asked God for a sign of His favor. Moses in Exodus 33:18, not only looked for a sign from God, but asked God to show him His glorious presence. 

Amazingly, God did answer Moses with conditions. In verse 19-23 of Exodus 33, we can read how the Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh….As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”

If we think about it, it is not surprising that God favored Moses. After all, we can read in Exodus 33:11 that the Lord would speak to Moses as one speaks to a friend.

I was listening to Father Mike Schmitz just last night and he was talking about his relationship with his father. (Listen to it here - https://youtu.be/c7ULuwKYEwQ ) His father obviously wanted to get close to him, inviting him to go fishing or hunting. BUT Fr. Mike did not want to do those things, he did not want to go with him. His dad would say, “Come with me, I’m going running”, but Fr. Mike would just get annoyed! He did not want to do anything that his father liked to do! He also did not want to tell his father what he was reading because he thought his father would think he was foolish. Sometimes while he was reading about Tarzan or whatever, Fr. Mike would catch his father looking at him, and he would ask why. His father said he just liked looking at his son. He wanted to get to know his son, he wanted to be with his son, but Fr. Mike would rebuff all those overtures! Reflecting on this later in life, Fr. Mike realized that many of us are like that with God. God wants to get close to us, He wants to be friends, but we act like spiritual orphans. Fr. Mike called it ‘self-imposed fatherlessness’.

Father, if there are ways I turn my back on You, spurning Your efforts to get close to me, snubbing Your invitations to get to know You, please help me to reconnect with You! I want to be Your friend!