God and Moses Face-to-Face

It's an exciting time right now, as the Summer studies at CHPC are in full swing and plans are being made for the Women's Fall Retreat and Fall studies too. It's official - I will be leading Genesis PUP on Monday evenings. I started a one-month reading plan on Genesis just this morning myself.

It's amazing how God intertwines my studies to complement one another. Once again something I learned in my Wednesday night class, He Speaks to Me, has opened up a wonderful thought on the book of Genesis. Author Priscilla Shirer directs us to Numbers 12:5-8, where God tells Aaron and Miriam that He speaks face-to-face with Moses, rather than in visions like the other prophets.

Now we all know the story of the burning bush and Moses' trip up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. And yet in the Numbers account, we get this rich insight that God and Moses speak on a regular basis. Considering that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, a fact that Jesus points to many times in the New Testament, we can imagine that the account we have of the creation of the world, came through Moses, directly from God Himself.

Ok, I know the verse in 2 Peter 1:21 that says "No prophecy is a matter of one's own interpretation . . ." but in Moses' case, he had a verbal line of communication in addition to promptings by the Holy Spirit! This puts the creation account in a whole new perspective for me.

As I was reading Genesis 1 and 2 this morning, it was easy to see where Moses makes the transition from giving an account of the events, to expounding on what happened. In verses 1:1-2:3 Moses' unfolds the events saying "And God said . . .," "And God created . . ." In verse 2:4 he concludes this account and begins a narrative that refers to the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim). Here he begins to fill in the details of what he has already explained to us.

I'm not usually one to speculate about how certain events unfolded in Scripture, but I do wonder if God gave Moses the creation account and then Moses, who was known to question God on occasion, began to ask "Well, how did you make that man? I mean, what was he made of?" And in the process of speaking face-to-face with God, he had the makings of the very first history book ever written!

Don't you wish that sometimes God would speak to you face-to-face? It would make some things in my life much more clear! Until that great and glorious day that we do get to see Him face-to-face, we must content ourselves with interacting with His Living Word, the Bible. And striving to be in fellowship with His Spirit that we might follow His promptings, as well as interacting with each other for encouragement and stimulation. (Heb. 10:24-25)

For reflection:

Here are a few verses about listening and hearing the voice of God: Exodus 19:5; 1 Samuel 15:22; 2 Kings 18:11-12; Luke 8:4-15; John 10:27; Hebrews 4:7

I hope you hear His voice today!

Listening for His Word,

Tina