Over the past few weeks, I've been meditating on God's word. For those who know me and the time I love to spend with my open Bible, that won't sound spectacular. But it has been anything BUT unspectacular.
I read Exodus 34:8 that says: Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. I search for the depth of meaning behind those eleven words. I journal 50 "perhaps" thoughts as I unravel them one by one...
Moses-the one who didn't want to lead, the murderer, the one who wouldn't get to set foot inside the land promised, the one filled with anger at a brother and a golden calf, the one who had begged and then witnessed the God-glory, the one who spoke to God "mouth to mouth". Moses-the one made in the image of sinful Adam. Moses made haste...he hurried...he used excessive speed, energy, and movement to place himself before God. Why the hurry? Why the hurry to bow low? And why not just bow at the waist? Why did he go all the way down, face to the earth?
God is standing; He has passed by and now He stands and speaks. I wonder: what words did He choose that would then provoke the bowing low? And when I hear them, do I also bow low?
So I move my eyes to the previous verses: compassionate, gracious, abounding, lovingkindness, forgives, won't leave the guilty unpunished. Which one of these words bends the form? And which one stings most? Wouldn't Moses soon be among the guilty? Wouldn't he soon be punished for the strike and not the voice? Of all men, wouldn't he need to bow low?
God stands, and Moses bows, because don't you have to bow when Glory stands? And how long did the bow stay? How long do you keep your face to the ground while Presence stands? Who moves first?
And then...worship. It's first entrance coming into God's story when a father takes the offering of his son to an altar. Abraham and Moses both choose worship in the early morning. Abraham took all that he loved...Isaac (was Moses doing the same in the taking of himself?) The offering of worship was laid at a holy place; the place where Presence stood. In Moses' story, God stood and Moses bowed (because only one can be higher). Moses bowed to the compassion words--the gracious and slow to anger words. He bowed to the abounding love and truth, to the Faithful One who forgives for all the times the legs stiffen and refuse to go low. Moses stopped everything--all the anxious thoughts that come for the day ahead--and he worshiped. He just laid there in nothing less than adoration. Moses went low to adore God.
And there it is...the reason to put the face to the earth. He was only a man, and the God of all the earth was standing on dirt to talk to him. The worship-choice had been made even without the knowing of the words that would follow, because the bow was not for the instruction but for the God who left heaven's throne just to stand on dirt and speak to a man.
One had stooped low to the earth to hear the Glory words, but One had stooped even lower to speak them.
So I make haste to bow low and worship.
