Friend of God

"The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." Exodus 33:11

I've been working my way through Exodus recently and it's interesting to see God's personality come through so clearly. God may be omnipowerful, omni-this and omni-that but he's still like us in a lot of ways. Or more accurately, we're like Him in a lot of ways.

God wants to have friends and deep, meaningful friendships. He wants to be able to confide in someone. He likes to celebrate with us and yes, he even has a (righteous) temper. We can hurt him, as we can our own parents or friends. We can encourage him. We can provide a listening ear and we can help persuade him.

In Exodus 32, God roars against the Isrealites because they were worshipping a golden calf while God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments. Moses persuades him not wipe them all out for their sin. Later on, it refers to Moses and God like they were friends.

As much as we may be inclined to stereotype the Old Testament God as angry and judgemental, and as much as we may see Jesus as a free-loving beatnik, it's meaningful to get past the surface layers and really get to know what God and Jesus are like. We easily state that Christianity is about relationship instead of religion, so how well do we know God as a "person?" How well do we know his likes and his dislikes, the things that hurt him, the things that he hates and the things that he loves?

What does it take to be considered a friend of God?