When we talk to a friend, we’re often relaxed. We don’t have to be formal. We can say what we think without fear of being judged. We can open up and be vulnerable. We can speak honestly about things. That’s how Moses and God talked to each other – like two friends who were trusting and transparent. They said what they felt and thought. The Israelites had just created a golden calf to worship, and God was angry enough to disown them. Moses had a major crisis on his hands, and he engaged God in a serious conversation. In essence he told God, ‘You see it one way and I see it another way. And your perspective is making me very uncomfortable.’ (you can read about this in Exodus 32). He wasn’t being disrespectful, he was opening his heart. God and Moses knew each other well enough to speak ‘face to face, as one speaks to a friend’. Do we pray like that – as a heart-to-heart conversation with a friend we trust and feel close to? That’s what God wanted with Moses, and what He wants with us. Religious-sounding phrases and our usual prayer request list can prevent us from connecting deeply and personally with God. We need to open up to Him instead. We need to talk to Him honestly about where we’re coming from and what we feel, think, and desire. Friends know what’s going on in each other’s lives. When Jesus was speaking to the disciples, He said to them: ‘I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you’ (John 15:15 NIV). Jesus reveals things to us, and we can tell Him everything too. That’s what being friends with Him is all about.

What Now?

Grab your favourite hot drink and find a quiet place you love. Sit down and talk to God, your Best Friend, about what’s going on in your life right now.