"Moving on Up" in Your Relationship With God.

Moses Ordered To Go To Where God Was On The Mountain

Exodus 24:13-15: Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and commandment which I have written for their instruction.”  So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.  But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you.  And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal mater, let him approach them.” Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

It is interesting to note exactly what God said to Moses at this point. First, as close as we get to God moving upwards on the spiritual mountain on which He resides, God wants us to get closer. He wants us to take a risk (if we consider it so) and be “moving on up” to where He is.  And to “remain there.” For how long you may ask? I believe it is until He sends you off to do something specific for Him involving His people and His Kingdom.

Did Moses think he might never come back? I doubt it. God told him he would be getting the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that God had written for the instruction of the people.  Moses was to bring those back down the mountain. He was assured of his return to his people.

This is so typical of God.  He calls us to go up to Him, get more of His instructions, and then get back down to where the work needs to be done.  On our trip we gain insight, we are given further instructions, and we are refreshed to go on doing God’s work on earth.

These tablets that Moses was to bring down carried the commandments that were written and given for “our instruction”.  I just finished reading a book by a Christian cardiologist, and the thought comes to my mind of the fact that so many receive instructions and even prescriptions from their doctors and fail to follow them and end up dead. Why on earth anyone who believes in God and even believes He gave us the Ten Commandments would not follow them is beyond me. We are asking for trouble. And millions who call themselves Christians do just that.

Moses obeys, and taking his servant Joshua (remember Moses is quite old by now), he moves further up the mountain towards God. This was the same Joshua that later became Moses’ successor.  But as David Guzik notes, he started off as a mere “assistant” to begin with.  More about him later in the Scriptures.

But before Moses went further up the mountain, we note that he left instructions for the elders. Yes, he got a new assignment but he also made sure that the responsibilities he was carrying out beforehand would be transferred to his trusted subordinates, Aaron and Hur. (Hur, you will remember was a chief man among the Hebrews in the desert, associated with Aaron in upholding the hands of Moses at Rephidim [Exodus 17:12].) So, he too had proven himself. A good leader always has those that he can count on to carry on the work he has to leave behind in order to serve at a higher level.

So Moses goes up the mountain and the cloud covers the mountain.  Can you imagine how he felt? How did Joshua feel?  How did those left behind feel?  What an experience to be called to come “closer to God”. And yet, each of us has that very opportunity today.  We can get closer to God – but it takes, as I’m learning from Dr. John D. Duncan’s book, Sacred Grit, lots of training to overcome fear, agony, and sweat.  And then it takes availability and willingness to make the trip. But I am sure you’ll find it unbelievably worthwhile.

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