Lessons from Moses and the mountaintop

By PAT ARENSBERG
For The Catholic Week
When the Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai, He summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up to Him. Then the Lord spoke to Moses …” Exodus 19:20-21
The above passage is something that happened thousands of years ago, but remains very instructive for our lives. Moses was at the base of the mountain along with all of the people of Israel. In order for God to speak to him Moses must do two things. He must leave all of the other people and must ascend to the top of the mountain. Meanwhile, God will descend to the top of the mountain to converse with Moses. I think there are a couple of lessons for us.
First, God descends to the top of the mountain and calls Moses. God always makes the first move. He made the first move when He created us. He made the first move when He spoke to the prophets. He made the first move when He became incarnate. He made the first move when He called us into relationship with Him and His family, the Church.  God makes the move and descends to a place that we can go and meet Him.
Why does God stop at the top of the mountain instead of descending all the way down to Moses?  I am not sure, but I think it is because we are too easily distracted at times to hear God.  We so often don’t see or hear God in our lives precisely because we are too busy and surrounded by too much noise.  How often have we been looking frantically for something, only to find in plain sight in an obvious location? How did we miss it for so long? I think it is because our sight was crowded with too many other things.
That brings us to the second lesson for us, namely that we have to seek solitude and silence to make room for us to encounter God. It is true that once we become intimate with God that we can find Him in other people, but we have to make time to spend with God away from distractions. Married couples often will do this and go on a date with their spouse.
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected] 
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