Sandals and Fire

3330 years ago, God met an 80-year old shepherd and told him to take off his shoes. One generation later, He met the leader of a nation on the way to war and told him the same thing. Why the emphasis on shoes?

In case you're wondering, the people I'm talking about who met God and subsequently felt dry earth beneath their feet are Moses (who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt) and Joshua (who led them into their Promised Land). In the first instance, Moses is taking care of his father-in-law's sheep in the wilderness when he sees a bush that is on fire but somehow isn't burning up. When he goes to check it out, God speaks to him out of the bush, saying the following:

"... Take the sandals off your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground." - Exodus 3:5, ESV

In the second instance, Joshua has just led the Israelites over the River Jordan and is about to begin their conquest of the land of Canaan by attacking the city of Jericho. He then meets a person who is called the commander of the Lord's army, who gives him a message from the Lord, starting with the following command:

"Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." - Joshua 5:15, ESV

In both cases the reason given for the taking off of their sandals is that the ground underneath those sandals is holy. But why should sandals be taken off on holy ground? In fact, given one view of holiness their sandals should have been kept on their feet — so that they with their dirty feet would not defile this holy ground. Instead, almost the opposite is true: it seems that keeping on their sandals would have defiled this holy ground, and I believe that is because God wanted — and wants — His holiness to be in contact with our human flesh. There are a few things we can learn from this:

1. God wants us to be completely open with Him. In fact, we cannot truly meet with Him without being vulnerable, because façades don't last in His presence. You see, the primary reason we wear shoes is actually not for 'looking spiffy' or bringing an outfit together — but for protection (spend a normal day without shoes and you'll see this to be true). When it comes to us and God, this parallels the walls we keep up in our day to day lives that, while they might shelter us from the hurts that come from living in this society, actually hinder us from being fully honest with someone else — or even ourselves. Walls like maintaining an image of having it all together. Walls like believing that what someone did or said didn't affect us when it actually really hurt. These walls that we build keep us from truly meeting with God, but He has always and will always want to be with us, inside us and in the midst of us.


2. God is not scared of our failures, and our sin cannot stand before His holiness. When Moses first met God at the burning bush, he had been chasing a bunch of sheep through the Middle Eastern desert for weeks, alone. When Joshua met the angel before reaching Jericho, he and the rest of the Israelites had been walking through the desert for forty years. So their feet were not beautiful and clean, but dirty, dusty and sweaty. Yet that didn't disgust God or make Him pull away. No, He knows about your mistakes and failures and inadequacies and the filthiness in some parts of your life, but He wants to be with you anyway, His holiness in contact with your humanity, cleansing you from the inside out. As Hebrews 12:29 says, our God is a consuming fire, and although that fire may sometimes hurt when you truly open yourself up to Him, it is the fire of His love for you, purifying you from all the dirt and leaving you better than before. Remember that Jesus washes your feet.


3. True-contact meetings with God lead to real communication and being powerfully used by Him. Starting with meeting God at the burning bush, despite his perceived inadequacies Moses was powerfully used by God in leading the people of Israel and in signs and miracles and giving of the Law. From then onwards, Moses regularly met with and spoke to God face to face as with a friend; see Exodus 33:7-11. Similarly, after Joshua approached the Commander of the Lord's Armies in arrogance and was humbled, he led the Israelites to miraculous victory after miraculous victory against the inhabitants of the land. Finally, when Paul in his zeal against Christianity was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians and instead met the Christ he was persecuting, he became the most fruitful missionary to the non-Jewish world, eventually authoring over two thirds of our current New Testament. In each case, God met a man while in his weakness and folly, changed his course and used him powerfully for His kingdom. If you want to be powerfully used by God, start with real, honest regular meeting with Him, and watch how His powerful holiness steers your life.


4. Honesty with God becomes authenticity with others. It is impossible to be real and honest in our relationship with God while maintaining a façade with the people around us, especially those in our family of faith. When Jesus rose again and met the disciples, he showed them his scars. In the same way, let us show others our weaknesses, flaws and failings so that God's grace and power might get the glory. The most powerful way to live is to truly be yourself. While that's not easy in this world that continually tells you who you should be, as you stay close to God He shows you who He made you to be.

Thanks for reading this post, ladies and gentlemen.