The God Who Knows My Name

THE NATURE OF GRACE

October 20, 1996

Exodus 33:12-23

Tevya, the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof, is one of those unforgettable, loveable characters who has become a reference point in our culture. I think one big reason I like

Tevya so much is the way he carries on a running conversation with God Himself. "If I were a rich man..." he muses, "hmm — Lord, would it foul up Your universe if you made me a very wealthy man?" And then he goes on delivering his milk. We get the idea that Tevya's God is a God he lives with and a God he can talk to.

How do you talk with God? How real is that conversation?

Children often talk with God. They seem to understand and accept some things we have forgotten. Where along the way do we lose that immediacy? When does our conversation with God become something else? And at the same time, isn't it strange that we lose the immediacy of childlike faith and still we often stay at a childish level of prayer? Many

Christians seem to progress in every other phase of human development except talking with God. They are computer literate. They are fashion conscious. They are up on the latest diet fads. But their prayers seem to get stuck at the pre-teen level. When they talk to God it still sounds like "Now I lay me down to sleep ..." Which, I am sure, is better than nothing at all. But grace challenges us to move on, and get to know God better and better.

Moses was at a point of "moving on." God had called and Moses had responded. God had saved the people from bondage. They had crossed the Red Sea. They had come to the place of covenant. Now Moses knew he had to start out for the Promised Land. But just then it began to dawn on Moses that he didn't know God as well as he wanted to know Him. Moses said to God: "Are You going with us on this journey?" God said, "I AM going with you— or rather, you are going with Me!"

Moses said, "I need to know You better! You know me. I hardly know You at all! Show me Who You really are!"

God said, "If you really want to know Me come closer. There is a place nearer to Me. I will tell you my Name again. I will give you as much of my Presence as you are able and willing to know now."

Then God put Moses 'in the cleft of the rock, and covered him with His hand.' Of course we don't know all that means, but we get the message: God and Moses were communicating "face-to-face, " is the way scripture describes it. God knows Moses— and now Moses is moving deeper in his conversation with God.

God knows your name. He knows all about you, and He loves you just as you are. Would you believe, God loves you as much as He loves Moses himself? Why, then, does it seem to be so hard to pray — if God loves us so much? Why is it that God doesn't seem so "real?"

Maybe one reason is that we constantly let anything and everything keep us from taking time to talk with Him? How would your doctor treat you if you were waiting to see her and the nurse called your name and you said, "I'm really into this article on President Reagan in this 1989 Reader's Digest you had on the table here in the waiting room. Tell the doctor I'll be in when I finish."

Try praying like Moses prayed: "Lord you know me. Help me know you!" And then hang on! Listen to what God says. You don't have to explain yourself to God; you just need to want to know Him. Really WANT to know Him. Look for Him! Listen for Him! Be ready to talk with Him, or be quiet while He talks to you.

Sing with me:

"I love You, Lord!
And I lift my voice to worship You— Oh my soul rejoice!!
Take joy my King in what You hear!
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.