Focus: Meet With Me, Lord!

Text: Ex.3:18

"The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us…"

Meeting points with God lead to turning points in life. Meeting points are divinely orchestrated. God makes it happen. God was the orchestrator of the meeting between Himself and Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road. It was nothing incidental, coincidental or accidental. It was purely providential.

God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh, "The LORD God of the Hebrews hath MET with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may SACRIFICE to the LORD our God" (Ex.3:18). Then he goes in to Pharaoh and says to him, "The God of the Hebrews hath MET with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and SACRIFICE unto the LORD our God; LEST he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword" (Ex.5:3). At another time, he says again to Pharaoh, "The LORD God of the Hebrews hath SENT me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may SERVE me in the wilderness" (Ex.7:16). Yet again he says to him, "Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may SERVE me" (Ex.9:1). He repeats the same in verse 13.

Now the word 'met' is the Hebrew word qârâh, which basically means 'to light upon.' It also means 'to encounter, to appoint, to meet, or to happen'. This meeting is preplanned by God, but from man's vantage point, it appears unplanned, sudden, unexpected, or accidental. In Gen.24:12, it is translated as 'good speed.' In Num.23:4, we read, "And God met Balaam…" In verse v.15, we read, "And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I MEET the LORD yonder…" In verse v.16, we read, "And the LORD MET Balaam, and put a word in his mouth…" In Num.35:11, it is translated as 'appoint.' We read in Rut.2:3, "And her HAP was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz…"

We read in 1Sam.28:10, "As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment HAPPEN to thee for this thing." Also in 2Sam.1:6, we read, "As I HAPPENED by chance upon mount Gilboa…" These are few instances of the use of the word qârâh.

This divinely arranged meeting between God and us brings about radical changes in our lives. It transforms our perceptions about God and all of life, and turns around our perspectives on reality and essence of existence.

Abraham was not the same after he met with God. Moses was not the same after his encounter with God. The Hebrews met with God and embraced the idea of leaving Egypt. Saul of Tarsus met with Christ and lived to tell the story. His life radically altered.

Your God wants to meet with you. Let your daily desire and prayer be, 'Meet with me, Lord.' You cannot meet with God without encountering a great turning point. Only God changes us from the inside out.

Like Abraham, Moses, and Paul, when you meet with God, he sends you on a noble mission. Like the Israelites, when you meet with God, you will be willing to break free from bondage of Satan, and desire to worship God and serve His purpose.

Now let me point out to you some meeting points. The Scripture is a meeting point between us and God. Prayer is another meeting point. The local church is another meeting point. Fellowship with the Christian community or the brethren is yet another meeting point, and I tell you, God has more meeting points than you can imagine. Say with me, 'O Lord, meet with me and transform my whole being and destiny! Amen!'

by Bishop Moses E. Peter