What God Gets Up Close and Personal

If we maintain a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I believe He speaks to us in many ways, through an impression on our mind, through His Word, through repeat messages, or through circumstances. However, occasionally, I believe our Maker gets up close and personal with us so that we never doubt His calling on our lives.

He can do this through a powerful dream or vision or He can communicate with us in an audible voice, but are we ready for this kind of intimacy?

When I was sixteen, I had a vivid dream about Jesus’ return to this Earth. I heard the sound of the Shofar and woke up crying out to Jesus. This was a lot to absorb for a young adolescent. I happened to be reading in Revelation and was so frightened by the dream that I did not open up that book of the Bible for a long time. I was not ready for this kind of intimacy with God.

Years later, when I was more mature spiritually, I heard the audible voice of the Holy Spirit, saying “There’s still more to do.” Then the Holy Spirit gave me a year. Never before and never after have I heard an audible voice, but once was enough to keep me going in ministry and to know beyond faith that God exists. When my faith needs oxygen, I always go back to that moment when God whispered in my ear.

I wonder if that is what happened to Moses?

This week, I was reading in Hebrews 11 when I saw something I’d never seen before. It said, “By faith he (Moses) left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27).

At first glance, you’d think this was about the time God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, but this verse is planted right after the patriarch’s decision to identify with his people. He did that by killing an Egyptian for mistreating a fellow Israelite. The verse was also sandwiched in between Moses fleeing Egypt because of that murder, and the first Passover, which occurred when he returned to Egypt forty years later. Could it be that Moses had a close encounter with God before the burning bush? Could it be that this encounter with the invisible is what kept Moses close to God in his period of waiting before the great “I Am” came calling again in a ball of fire?

We may never know the answer, but I’d like to believe the burning bush was Moses’ second supernatural meeting with the living God. I deduce that when the Lord called Moses back to Egypt, he was familiar with the Almighty, because he’d seen what was invisible before. Just like my dream about the rapture, Moses didn’t understand this supernatural experience had to do with a future call.

Have you ever had an up close and personal with God? Are you wondering what it meant? Are you waiting for more direction?  God doesn’t waste these intimate moments with us. Out of His great love, he wants us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He exists, so that when he delivers an assignment to us, we will know he’s the Sender. Why? Because we’ve seen what was invisible before, and because of that, we won’t hesitate to move forward.

When and how has God made himself real to you? Is it part of a future call on your life?