Thank you for the question on the relationship between God and Moses, “And in Exodus we learn that “the Lord would speak to Moses, face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). God also said of Moses, “I am pleased with you and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17). How did God and Moses get so close?”
God spoke to Moses as one speaks as a friend because there was honesty and respect between them.
Here are some thoughts for one’s consideration on how God and Moses developed that intimate friendship with each other.
A. The friendship was possible because God initiated the relationship by revealing himself to Moses at the Burning Bush.
Exodus 3 says this, “There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” .. 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” (NIV).
A friendship is possible if one initiates a contact. God revealed himself through the Burning Bush and called him by his name, Moses, and revealed his name to him, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
B. The friendship is possible because Moses respected God most of his life.
Friendship has its boundaries. There is the respect for personhood and space. Moses rarely forgot that God was speaking to him and he was speaking to God.
Exodus 3 says this, “5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” (NIV).
C. The friendship is possible because God asked Moses to share in a common desire and task.
Exodus 3 says this, “7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (NIV).
Moses had the desire to deliver his people from slavery when he was a prince of Egypt. God has a desire to deliver his people from slavery and to fulfill his promise to Moses’ ancestors of a land flowing with milk and honey. They had a shared desire and goal together.
D. The friendship is possible because God and Moses were honest with one another in their conversation.
Exodus 3 says this, “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” (NIV).
Moses was able to express his doubts about his personhood and ability to do what God asked him to do. God gave verbal reassurances to Moses that he will be with him and what he is to say to the Israelites. Moses was so forthright that he even asked God to send someone else! God knew that Moses needed someone by his side so he sent for his older brother Aaron. Moses wasn’t afraid of God but he respected God in sharing his reservations of delivering the Israelites from Egypt.
E. The friendship is possible because God provided the resources to enable Moses to success in the deliverance of the Israelites.
Exodus 4 says this, “Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” 2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” 6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous —it had become as white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
Moses developed confidence in the LORD God not only by his words but by his actions in giving him signs and later with the Ten Plagues, the Parting of the Reed Sea, the Provisions of Water and Food.
F. The friendship is possible because Moses lived within the commandments of God.
The LORD God gave to Moses the Ten Commandments and the Laws. Moses sought to live and obey the commands of God. This found favor with God for Moses was doing what God asked him to do. Moses was not rebellious for the the most part. There was this fellowship with God in the Tent of the Meeting. Moses walked with God in the Wilderness for 40 years.
This fellowship with God is available to believers today. The Apostle John wrote in Revelations 3 these words, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (NIV). The Epistle of I John declares that believers in Jesus Christ can have an intimate fellowship with God by walking in the light as he is the light, by confessing our sins for the restoration of fellowship with God, and by loving our brothers and sisters as ourselves and even those who do not believe or trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
SUMMARY: The door of friendship to and with God is open. Does anyone want to take up that offer by God and have a living relationship with the him? I hope you will.
For more perspectives: