One of the most famous stories in the Bible takes place in Exodus 3. Moses had fled from Egypt and was tending sheep for his father in law when he saw a burning bush. As he looked closer, he realized the bush wasn’t being consumed by the fire and started walking towards it. As he drew near, the Lord called out his name and then said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground” (NLT). By having Moses remove his shoes, God was teaching us how to approach Him. Not only was removing the shoes an act of humility, it was also symbolic of removing the dirt and things that get between us and God.
We know that pride separates us from God because He rejects the proud, but gives grace to the humble. In Luke 18 Jesus told the story of a Pharisee who thanked God he wasn’t like that tax collector. The tax collector was so humble he couldn’t lift his face toward heaven as he asked for mercy. The tax collector had removed the shoes of pride and was justified. He had dirt in his life that should have kept him from God’s presence. Tax collectors were notorious sinners, but this one removed the dirt of sin by seeking forgiveness. He didn’t want anything to come between him and God. We don’t see him physically take off his shoes, but know he symbolically did as he approached God’s presence.
Hebrews 12:1 reminds us, “As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us” (GNT). Every one of us have some type of sandal we need to remove from our life that is getting in the way of drawing closer and running our race. Whether it’s sin, pride, self reliance, clinging to our old life, performance based faith, etc., we must remove it so we can stand with barefoot faith on holy ground. God is calling out your name, the way He called out Moses’. Like him, are you willing to take off your shoes and stand on holy ground?
Photo by Kevin Kurek on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 