I have studied, pondered and prayed over the scriptures for more than 40 years. Only recently have my eyes been opened to how involved God was with His children from Adam through the fathers, Moses, and others who followed.
These images bring some of those experiences to life. They remind me that God is not distant from His children, and that it is possible to know Him.
The Fathers
From the beginning, God dealt personally with the fathers. He taught them, walked with them, made covenant with them, and worked through their families. Their children could hear what their fathers had experienced, but each generation still had to know God for themselves.
God prepared a garden and placed Adam in it. He taught him, gave him responsibility for the garden, and brought the animals to him to be named. Adam was His son, and I can imagine the love and joy God felt as He watched him.
God then saw that Adam was alone and brought Eve to him. Right at the beginning we see God personally teaching and caring for His children.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years while raising his family. Adam was still alive for much of that time. I imagine the discussions they could have had, because both men knew what it was like to be in the presence of God.
Moses used the same remarkable words for Noah: he walked with God. In a world becoming violent and wicked, Noah remained righteous and obeyed when God told him to build the ark.
After the flood, God came to Noah and his sons, blessed them and made covenant with them. The Father’s work continued through a family that had been preserved through the flood.
God called Abram to leave his country and his father’s household and go to a land He would show him. Abram obeyed. When he reached Canaan, the LORD appeared to him and promised the land to his descendants.
God’s care also reached Hagar when she was alone in the wilderness. He found her, spoke to her and gave her promises concerning her son and her posterity. Later the LORD came to Abraham at Mamre and told him that Sarah would give birth to the promised son.
Isaac could hear Abraham speak about his experiences with God, but in the end Isaac had to know God for himself. The LORD appeared to him personally, reassured him and renewed the covenant He had made with Abraham.
Jacob returned home at God’s command after twenty years away. Fearing Esau, he divided his family into two camps and was left alone. During the night he wrestled with a man until the man dislocated his hip.
Jacob realized this was no ordinary man and held on for a blessing. God blessed him, gave him the name Israel, and Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
Moses and Israel
God sent Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt and invited the people to obey His voice, keep His covenant and become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They agreed, but when God came near they were afraid and asked Moses to speak with Him for them.
Moses had spent forty years in Pharaoh’s house and another forty years with Jethro and his family. At Horeb, God called him from the burning bush and sent him back to Egypt to deliver Israel.
Moses took Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders up the mountain. They saw the God of Israel and ate and drank before Him. Yet while Moses remained on the mountain, Israel made a golden calf and broke the covenant they had just made.
God continued to speak with Moses in the tent outside the camp, face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Moses desired to know more and asked to see God’s glory. God protected him in the cleft of the rock while He passed by.
Later, when Aaron and Miriam questioned Moses, God Himself defended the way He spoke with him, explaining that with Moses He spoke plainly and directly.
God Continues With His Children
Israel continued to turn away from God, but He did not stop working with His children. Again and again He came to teach, correct, call, strengthen and help them.
As Joshua approached Jericho, he met the Captain of the LORD’s host with a drawn sword. Joshua fell before Him, was told that the ground was holy, and then received the direction Israel needed for Jericho.
Gideon was threshing wheat in hiding when a man sat beneath an oak and spoke with him. Gideon did not yet understand who He was. When the LORD touched Gideon’s offering and fire consumed it, Gideon realized he had seen God face to face and was afraid he would die.
Instead, the LORD told him, “Peace. Don’t be afraid. You will not die.”
The LORD first appeared to Manoah’s wife and promised that she would have a son. Manoah prayed for Him to return so they could learn how to raise the child, and God heard his prayer.
When the LORD later ascended in the flame of their offering, Manoah understood whom they had been speaking with and feared they would die because they had seen God. His wife quietly reminded him that God had come to bless them, not destroy them.
Samuel was still a boy when the LORD came and stood by him and called him by name. As Samuel grew, the LORD continued to be with him and appeared to him again at Shiloh. His relationship with God did not end with his first experience.
Elijah had done what the LORD asked, yet he became so discouraged that he asked God to take his life. The LORD fed him, strengthened him and brought him to Horeb. There Elijah covered his face and stood at the cave as the LORD passed by and spoke with him.
God told Elijah that he was not alone, gave him more work to do, and sent him forward again.
And What About Us?
When I began looking closely at these stories, one of the things that struck me was how often God came personally to His children. Adam knew Him. Enoch and Noah walked with Him. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob received Him. Moses spoke with Him face to face. Even after Israel repeatedly turned away, God continued working personally with His children.
Then I looked again at the words of Jesus. He did not teach us that the Father had become distant. He taught us to pray to the Father, seek Him, trust Him and do His will. He told those who claimed Abraham as their father, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”
Jesus also promised something remarkable. He said that if we love Him and keep His words, the Father will love us, “and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
I have come to believe we should take those words seriously. The fathers show us that God desires a real relationship with His children. The Messiah did not come to take us away from the Father. He came to bring us home to Him.
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”James 4:8
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