Bare

The other day, God told me to get nekkid.

Just kidding. Well, sort of.

I’m doing this book called Enjoy the Silence, which is teaching a Bible study practice called lectio divina. It’s a practice that monks often use, and it’s been a good book so far. I’ve been hearing God more in my quiet times.

The other day the passage was Exodus 3:1-6:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush,
“Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are stand-
ing is holy ground.”

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (TNIV)

What struck me was verse five, when God tells Moses to take off his sandals. He didn’t want him to have anything manmade on him, nothing crafted by man’s hands, because the ground was holy.

Holy ground required just bare skin. Just himself.

That’s when I really felt naked. God wants me bare before Him. None of the stuff I’ve made for myself, none of the attitudes and accomplishments that make up the things around me. Just me. The girl I really am.

My life is not pretty, but He wants me bare when I come before Him. He really wants to see just me.

This, I think, is true prayer—when I’m completely, utterly, only myself before God. This is when He can speak to me, because both He and I can see me for who I really am.

The next time you pray, be bold. Be bare. Be nekkid.

Just don’t post pictures. ;)