Called to His Presence

“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3-4).

From the very beginning, God has been calling holy men to the mountain of his presence to hear from heaven. He called Abraham to a mountain to prove him and bring him into close union with himself (see Genesis 22:2). Abraham received the knowledge of who God was as he put the knife to his own son — and God provided the ram as a sacrifice instead of Isaac: “He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad’ … Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket” (Genesis 22:12-13).

Moses was drawn by God to Mount Horeb, where he received his call to lead Israel out of bondage. And Moses was taken back to the mountain every time God wanted to speak to his people: “And Moses went up the mount to God, and Jehovah called for him from the mountain” (Exodus 19:3, Hebrew Bible).

Peter was on the mount, in the presence of God, when he heard the voice of the Lord. “And we heard this voice which came from heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:18).

The mountaintop is not easily reached. You enter through the secret closet and you stay, willing to risk everything to be alone in God's holy presence until your soul is on fire. It is reached by coming back every day, going higher each time, over rocks and precipices of opposition—and there is no turning back until the summit is reached. No one gets to the summit of God's presence with one-hour devotions. It must become a way of life.

The revelation of Christ is too vast to ever be fully comprehended. But those who are shut in with God in prayer gain an ever-growing appreciation of Christ as the Holy Spirit reveals him in the heart. Get back to the secret closet and be renewed by the Lord’s glorious presence. You can have a “mountaintop experience” where your joy is restored and your life takes on new purpose and direction.