Hungry

Hello my friends, back to blogging after a 10 day drought.  Sorry, I took some time off for some work around the house, and extra work in my areas of Pastoral ministry and college lecturer.

First though, let me add that I've been reading through the Pentateuch this summer.  (I read through the entire scripture in a year and finished that early in July).  In the Fall I begin my fifth year at Christian Life College - Madison as a lecturer and Academic Dean.  I love teaching scripture and I have a deep appreciation for Academics over more general ways of learning.  The Fall course is called "The Torah Story - a Survey of the Pentateuch" (which if you are not familiar with is the first five (Penta) books of the Bible:  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).  I am looking forward to this course as much as anything I've taught over the first four years.

Last week I drove to Chicago to give a lecture on the Process of Spiritual Formation.  This summer class of a dozen students sat with me for three  hours as we walked our way through various process items.  What would cause those students to take a two week lecture course, three hours a day?  What causes people to sign up for a college course in the Pentateuch?  What causes any of us to take extra time to dive into God's word to seek him, grow in our faith, and learn?

Hunger.

As I read through Exodus last week I came towards the end of the book and into the account of Moses' hunger for God.  It reads like this:

Exodus 33:7-17 (NIV)
⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.
⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses.
¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent.
¹¹ 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.
¹² Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.'
¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."
¹⁴ The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
¹⁷ And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

Moses' request in vs 13 is simple:  "teach me your ways so that I may know you..."  Jesus said, "I am the way...".  God has a way that is full of wisdom, full of life, and fulfilling in every way.
Sometimes we tend towards our own self-absorption, self-pity and selfishness in general...the way of the Lord is a check on living in that kind of futility.
Moses' second request is "grant me your presence".
What I love about God's answer is the fact that with God's presence comes His rest!  Sabbath.

Hunger...hunger for God...hunger for something more than the blah of a self-centered life...I'm hungry.

Peace