Up and down

In Exodus 19, the Israelites came and camped before Mount Sinai. While they were there, God spoke a number of things to Moses, which he in turn told the people. If you read through the chapter quickly, its easy to get the impression that God and Moses simply had one big meeting, in which God gave him all the information and commands found in the chapter, and then Moses went back and told the people all that God had said. But if we look closer at the chapter we see that this is not quite how it happened.

In verse three we are told clearly that Moses “went up to God” on the mountain, where God spoke with him (verses 4-6). Then, in verse 7 Moses “went back” and summoned together the elders of the people, and told them all that the Lord had commanded him. Then, in verse 8 we read, “Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord,” implying that Moses went back “up to God” on the mountain. In verses 9-13, The Lord again gave Moses more commands for the people, and in verse 14 we read that Moses “went down from the mountain to the people…”

Already the up and down, back and forth nature of this chapter is beginning to show up rather clearly. But it isn’t over yet. In verse 20 The Lord again came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain and “called Moses to the top of the mountain.” Answering this call, Moses again “went up.”

At this point the whole up and down thing finally seems to have come to an end. Moses is on the mountain with God, and about to receive the 10 commandments. But in verse 21 God tells Moses to go down again, and warn to the people to stay away from the mountain. In verse 23, Moses, who by this point is probably tired of going up and down the mountain, tries to assure God that another trip down isn’t necessary. But God insists, telling him in verse 24 to “Go down and come up again…”

What really strikes me about this whole story is that God could easily have told Moses everything at once, but he didn’t. Certainly God know how the people would respond, and it would have been easy for him to prepare Moses in advance for their reply. As to God’s insisting that Moses go down and warn the people, its not like He couldn’t have done that before he came up.

I believe that God had a reason for having Moses go up and down the mountain as many times as he did. I believe that through this incident God was showing Moses and us as well both the cost and the value of being in the presence of God before being in a place of ministry to the people. Each trip back up the mountain required his energy and focus. And every time he came back down and spoke to the people, he knew he had to go back up again in order to take the people to the next stage of revelation concerning God and his will for them.

This same principle is seen in the story of Jesus on the Mount of transfiguration. It was only after He had climbed up the mountain that he was transfigured through a personal encounter with the presence of God. And then, immediately upon coming down from the mountain, he encountered a situation requiring nothing less than the manifestation of the presence and power of God.

If our lives are ever going to become channels through which the power and glory of God regularly flows, then we too will have to get in the habit of making regular trips up and down the mountain of God. If you haven’t already established such a habit, begin today!

“Who may ascend the hill of the lord, and who may stand in his holy place?” YOU!