As a man speaks to his friend
Moses at the tent of meeting
Outside the camp, Moses pitched a tent he called the tent of meeting, and whenever he went into it the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance, and the people would rise and worship at their own tent doors, watching from a distance.
And inside, something happened that the rest of the nation only glimpsed from afar. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, the text says, as a man speaks to his friend. Not in riddles, not through intermediaries, not in the trembling terror of Sinai, but in the plain, warm, back-and-forth of friendship — the way you speak with someone you trust and enjoy.
It was a staggering privilege, and for centuries it seemed to belong to Moses alone. But the whole movement of the gospel is to bring the rest of us in from the tent doors. The face-to-face friendship that was the rare gift of one prophet has, in Christ, been opened to all who come.
“The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
— Of Moses, at the tent of meeting — Exodus 33:11 (WEB)
Come in from the tent door to the face-to-face friendship with God that Christ has opened for you.
“The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.”
We settle for worshiping God from a respectful distance, assuming face-to-face friendship belongs to holier people. The interior work is to hold reverence and intimacy together — to let the same God before whom you bow become the One you speak with as a friend — and to actually come in from the tent door instead of admiring the cloud from afar.
This week, bring God something you would normally only tell a trusted friend — a real fear, a hope, an unedited frustration — and speak it to him plainly, face to face, rather than in formal, distant prayer.
The tempter has learned to use a counterfeit reverence, whispering that nearness to God is presumption and that distance is the humble place. But the veil is torn from top to bottom, and humility now means walking through the open door — the face-to-face friendship Moses tasted is not too much to want; it is what Christ died to give.
Most of us are content to worship God from the tent door — at a reverent, manageable distance, watching the cloud descend on someone holier than ourselves. Reverence is right; God is holy. But Jesus did not die to keep us at the tent door. He died to bring us inside, into the face-to-face friendship that Moses tasted and the whole Bible holds out as the goal.
The friendship of the Lord, the Psalm says, is with those who fear him — reverence and intimacy are not enemies but partners. The same God before whom we bow is the One who wants to speak with us as a friend. Are you still watching from the tent door, when the door has been opened for you to come inside?
- Am I still worshiping God from the tent door, at a safe distance?
- Do I treat reverence and intimacy as enemies instead of partners?
- What would speaking with God 'as a friend' actually look like for me?
Lord, you spoke with Moses as a friend, and in Christ you have opened the door to me. Bring me in from the distance, and speak with me face to face. Amen.