Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” — Exodus 33:7a
Moses might be the greatest example from the Old Testament on how to have a deep intimacy with God. When you get a chance, read Exodus 33 and 34 to see what you speaks to your heart the most. As we begin a series from these chapters, we find that Moses had a practice of building a special place to meet with God that he called the “tent of meeting”. Every time the Israelites picked up camp and moved, he packed up the tent, carried it with him, and set it back up when they arrived at their new location.
Moses pitched the tent outside the camp, some distance away. Why did he choose to do that? It would have been much more convenient to pitch it near where he lived, but as we see from the life of Jesus a few thousand years later, if you really want to hear from God, you have to find a place that is away from the activity, commotion, and noise of other people and get to a place that it’s just you and God. Jesus was always going off late at night or early in the morning before sunrise — up mountains or into the wilderness.
That, I believe, is why Moses pitched the tent outside the camp. Too many distractions inside the camp. And maybe Moses needed a tent because he didn’t want to be watched while he was talking with God. Perhaps it made him too self-conscious. He simply wanted to meet with God, and the only way that was going to happen was to put that tent outside the camp some distance away.
What do you need to meet with God? Perhaps you already have a place where you are not distracted and have an open connection with God. But perhaps not. If not, what can you do to create a better atmosphere? I have a chair that I got just for me to sit in when I want to meet with God, located in my basement away from a lot of the activity around my home. Perhaps, like Jesus, you have to get out in nature, away from people and other distractions. Maybe these ideas are impractical and you find that if you plug in some earbuds and put on worship music, the rest of the world fades away so that you can turn your heart toward God.
Whatever setting is required, I challenge you to do like Moses did, and create that setting, so that the channels of communication get opened between you and God and you are able to sense and hear what he has to say to you.