Appointments with God

Ex 30:6 "And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you." Ex 30:36 "And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you." (NKJV)

This is kind of an extension on what I wrote about yesterday. Not only does God want to settle down with us messed up human beings, He also wants to meet with us. He did it back in the OT with Moses and the priests, and I am convinced that, more than ever, God wants this for each of His priests (each believer) today.

The word for "meet" is cool. It means to "meet by appointment", "to fix, to appoint, to assemble, to meet, to set (and get this) to betroth". (Strongs)

I am not really fond of meetings. It seems like the business world is full of them. You have to get together with people to set agendas, to establish policies, to work out calendars, to determine goals, etc., etc., etc.. And the same is true in church life. I know, I was just involved in a three and a half hour meeting with our Elders last night. If we could get things done without meetings, it would be wonderful…but we can't. We have to meet. We have to get our heads together. We have to bounce ideas off of one another. We have to get the council and advice of others. The weird thing is, even though sometimes these meetings are painful, we get things done and we develop our relationship with those we meet with. We seem to develop a bond…a camaraderie…a common vision.

The fact that God wants to have a meeting with me is astounding. I know that I have always heard that we all need to have a "quiet time". What is meant by that is that we need to spend time in God's word and prayer. This is huge in a believer's life. This thing called a "quiet time" is really not quiet at all. It is an appointment with God. It is a time when God has a meeting with me, where I can see what He is thinking, where we can develop that bond, that camaraderie, that common vision. Calling it an appointment with God puts the emphasis where it should be…on God. He wants to "meet by appointment". He wants this time even more than I do. The God of all eternity wants to meet with a guy who is so goofed up it isn't even funny…so I can get to know Him better…so I can start to think like He does…so I can become like Him in my words, actions and attitudes. Wow.