Kick Your Shoes Off, and Stay A Spell

In Exodus 3, Moses spots a bush on fire, thinks it looks strange and wanders up to it. Of course we know that God was in the fire, the flames being symbolic of his royalty, purity, and power, among others.

Then God said two things to Moses...one makes complete sense and the other seems rather odd. First, He said, "Don't come any closer." Makes sense to me. Fires are hot. You can't get closer without getting hurt.

Then He said, "“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Why would Moses' footwear be a primary topic? I mean, didn't Moses' sandals match his handbag? What's God's point here?

There are probably several good reasons, but here's one reason that seems right to me.

First, God didn't ask Moses to remove his tunic (thank goodness) or his hat. Obviously God is looking at the point of contact between Himself (the holy ground) and Moses. The sandals were somehow interfering with it. Something about the sandals was messing with the contact point.

What was it? The sandals were man-made. That's a problem. When I'm seeking God, He will not permit anything made by me or any man to connect me to Him. That's for my own good.

God knows I am too sinful, too proud, too fickle to ever construct any meaningful, acceptable span connecting me to him. No, the bridge between God and me must begin from His side, not mine, and built with His materials not mine. For me to presume I could ever initiate or assist in this process would be total foolishness and failure. 

I can't come to God with anything cool or helpful.  I can't come to God with any strategies or programs or plans or concepts to enhance my relationship with Him.  As Revelation 3:17 states, I come to Him wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  This is my total contribution to our relationship.  And, for some reason, that's fine with God.

Talk about taking the pressure off!  I don't need to do or be  anything special to come to Him.  Good, because I am wretched and pitiful.  He wants to be the God of the wretched and pitiful, not the god of the arrogant and self-important.

We know now what Moses did not... the final bridge, our permanent contact point with God is His son Jesus. Holy and pure, initiated by God, reaching out from God to us. He is our solid rock, our holy ground. Anything that blocks our contact with Jesus, that insulates ourselves from Him needs to be kicked off, like Moses' sandals, for it is interfering with what's absolutely most important.

Religion is me attempting to bridge the gap to God by routine, ritual, sacrifice, good works...or anything else I can conjure up to try to convince God that I am worth His time or effort. I need to stop doing such things as they are nothing more than smelly sandals, getting between God and me.

Relationship with God, on the other hand, is my seeing the bridge already built from God to me, recognizing the incredible cost of it, the unmatched security I have on it, and though I am not worthy, accepting it as a gift from God, and joyfully walking (barefoot) across it.