MEN WHO BECAME GOD’S CREATIVE PARTNERS

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

Moses was given divine instruction to build the tabernacle and to lead Israel while he was enjoying face-to-face relationship with God (Exodus 25-31; Exodus 33:11). The glory of God’s face transformed the face of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:2).

Moses was completely dependent on God to lead him. But, to Moses, relationship with God was as important as leadership from God. In Exodus 33:13, He asks God to “show me your way, that I may know you.” In this verse, Moses is asking God to guide his life, but his goal is to know the Lord.

“‘Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.’ And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here’” (Exodus 33:13-15).

When Moses asks God to “show me your way, that I may know you,” God’s response to Moses is, “My presence will go with you.” This response from God shows the nature of Moses’ relationship with God. God instructed Moses, but the relationship was not formal or impersonal, like a professor instructing a student. God did not interact with Moses strictly for the purpose of dispensing information or issuing a directive. Moses and God were friends!

“So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

Moses placed such value on this life-giving, first-hand relationship with the Lord that he had no interest in leading Israel if he had to do it without God’s presence. Once Moses experienced face-to- face relationship with God, he would not live without it.

So, Moses, like Jesus, experienced delight coming from God’s face and instruction coming from God’s heart. Moses simultaneously experienced the glory of God’s joy and the genius of God’s plan. God loves to reveal His divine design to build and to lead, but He fuels our heart with His joy to accomplish the task.

David Was God’s Creative Partner

Like Moses, David had the experience of loving to see God’s face, and then receiving instruction in the context of intimacy. David was anointed by Samuel to be king, and then he encountered a whole host of character-building trials. Running from Saul, fighting battles and facing pressure on every side, David had only one place where he could find relief. The pain of life drove him into God’s presence. David discovered that being with God was his number-one desire.

In Psalm 27:4, David says: “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.”

With so much conflict in David’s life, he might have sought God to solve his problems or provide him with war strategies. But this wasn’t his primary goal. David says his one desire is to behold God’s beauty. David had no complicated motive. He was going to God for the simple pleasure of face-to-face intimacy. David was a man after God’s own heart, and so being with God delighted both the heart of David and the heart of the Lord. The pleasure of this mutually delightful relationship with God was David’s relief from the pain of life.

As David enjoyed God, he was hidden from trouble (Psalm 27:5). The location of David’s shelter with God is notable. David’s shelter was not in a bunker in the valley, it was located “high upon a rock.” David’s primary goal was to behold God’s beauty, but in the process of pursuing intimacy with God, David got elevated to a higher position. The throne room where he enjoyed God was also the war room where he got instruction from God. First, it was enjoyment, and then it was instruction.

This is identical to the pattern of how Jesus interacts with His Father in Proverbs 8:29-31. Jesus is enjoyed by His Father, and then He creates with His Father. David first beholds God’s beauty, and then he “inquires in His temple” (Psalm 27:4). To inquire means to ask or to seek. David was getting instruction from God in the context of intimacy with God. As David was elevated with God, he was able to view the battle from a higher perspective:

“And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me” (Psalm 27:6).

So, like Jesus, David is the Lord’s intimate companion and his creative partner. David is a warrior, so as he is being enjoyed by God, he gains instruction from God necessary to be victorious in battle.

Paul Was God’s Creative Partner

Paul says he is “wise master builder” of the church, according to the grace God gives him (1 Corinthians 3:10). The term “wise master builder” reminds me of the word Jesus uses to describe Himself during His partnership with the Father in the process of creation: “Master Craftsman” (Proverbs 8:30). Both Jesus and Paul are describing a creative partnership with God in which the creative product is a master work of art.

When God creates with us, the end result is so beautiful, functional, and stable that it is displays His creative genius. The amazing thing is, God invites us into intimacy with Him so that He can unfold His creative plans to us. Paul was invited into intimacy with God, but it took time for God to change Paul’s priorities.

Paul was so capable that it was not easy for him to depend on God. Paul had a long list of human qualifications. Early in his life, his impressive resume convinced him he could build the Kingdom in his own ability. Paul was so full of zeal and human ability that God had to wean him off dependence upon his own strength. Paul lists all his impressive human qualifications in Philippians 3:2-6, and then he concludes, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8).

Paul, the super-achiever, tossed all his achievements in the trash, so that he “might know” Christ (Philippians 3:10). The desire to intimately know Christ is something we expect from David the worshipper or John the Apostle (the lover of Jesus). But the fact that Paul’s primary goal became knowing Christ is a human transformation of epic proportions!

Every person who encounters God in a genuinely intimate relationship becomes inspired to give up every inferior pursuit. Once Abraham became God’s friend, he wouldn’t try to build a city without God. Once Moses became God’s friend, he was given instructions to lead Israel, and he wouldn’t go anywhere without God. Once David became God’s friend, he had one desire: to behold God’s beauty. Once Paul experienced an intimate relationship with God, everything else became rubbish so that he could know God.

Once a person has experienced intimacy with God, it becomes their primary goal. And that is true for every person, regardless of their temperament or drive to achieve. Paul, the achiever, completely revised his agenda so his goal to know Christ became first priority. Knowing Christ then became the source of Paul’s ability to be a wise master builder.

Just like it was for Moses, David, and Paul, it is a priceless privilege for us to walk with the Lord and be a first-hand participant in His divine drama to love people. He is so good at loving, encouraging, comforting, and freeing people. And what an honor it is that He has invited us to join Him in this quest of partnership as we become a healthy family in the earth.

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