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| On one of our many family visits to see Aunt Ruby in Florida. |
When I was a child, my great Aunt Ruby loved to tell me stories about her childhood because I loved to hear them. My favorites included my strongwilled grandfather, Aubrey, whom I never met since he died when my dad was three. Aubrey and Ruby built a playhouse in the woods where they would go to escape their mother's strict rules to exercise their independence. Ruby could have written a book about the trouble the two of them found as they hunted and cooked and caught the woods on fire with their escapades.
She painted another picture of her mother fussing at her on the porch to wear her bonnet all the way to school to avoid getting freckles. Aunt Ruby knew her mother was watching, so she would wear the hated bonnet until she was out of sight then rip it off her head and run in the most unladylike fashion the rest of the way to school. Of course her mother spotted a tell-tale freckle one day and out came the switch.
While I loved to relive this part of her life with her, my heart would pound when she began telling the stories that would keep me awake for many nights throughout my childhood. One thriller described how she and my uncle came home one night and she sat on the bed to change shoes not knowing there was a burglar hiding under the bed. "Why, he could have grabbed my ankles!" she exclaimed. She was fascinated with death and the process of dying and told me about times loved ones passed away and witnesses saw the spirits leave the body to float out an open window. But the ones that both fascinated and frightened me most were the angel sightings, especially the story of a loved one who woke to see an angel standing at the foot of her bed. I remember asking, "What did the angel do?" Aunt Ruby said, "The angel was watching over her." That one had me breaking out in a cold sweat for fear of waking to find anyone standing at the foot of my bed staring at me, but something also thrilled inside me at the hope of seeing a real angel, wings and all. I would lie awake at night trying to build up the courage to face any angel that might show up, but I wouldn't close my eyes for fear one might appear during the blink. It's amazing I stayed awake during school.
The Israelites must have had Aunt Rubys who told such stories because they feared seeing or hearing directly from God, Whom they didn't know and certainly didn't understand. Not Moses. Moses had heard how God delivered him from the genocidal pharaoh and crocodile infested waters. Moses had seen God in the burning bush and in his transforming staff. Moses heard God declare a certain plague would come and saw God send it. Moses heard God's Voice time and again. When Moses stood with his shocked people between the sea and the soldiers, he cried out to God and God made a way where there was no way. The more Moses knew of God, the more of God Moses wanted to know and see and with every revelation Moses needed less and less of anything or anyone else.
"The LORD would speak to Moses face to Face, as a man speaks with his friend.
Then Moses would return to the camp,
but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent."
Exodus 33:11
Moses was like an astronaut in training, learning to live in limited circumstances, with limited contact to others, while specializing in rising to places others wouldn't dare go to see the glory of God in ways no one else would see.
"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your Glory be over all the earth."
Psalm 108:5
"The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion."
Psalm 116:5
"I lift up my eyes to You, to You whose throne is in heaven." Psalm 123:1
Lord, do we fear You in the wrong ways? Thrill us with Your Presence. Show us Your God-ness and Wow us with Your Glory! Revive us with Your whispers of hope and guard us from fearing too much of You. Cleanse our hearts of anything that makes us fear You'll speak directly to us: sin, pride, fear of change. Help us take the time to escape to and enjoy Your Presence. Lift our eyes to You, God of compassion, and reveal Yourself in ways we can't deny or ignore.
In the Name of Jesus Who met Moses face to Face on the Mount of Transfiguration at yet another height!
Inspired by Live Loved, by Max Lucado
photo from the Trimble family photos
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