Formation After Encounter

Copyright 2026. Elizabeth Shulam

There are moments in Scripture when people encounter God in ways that mark them deeply. A calling is given. A truth is revealed. A heart is shaken awake. Those moments are holy, and they deserve to be treated with reverence. Yet the biblical story keeps showing us that the encounter itself is not the end of the work. What follows is formation.

Many believers love these phrases: We speak about breakthrough, calling, fire, presence, awakening. Scripture certainly gives us those moments. Moses at the bush. Israel at Sinai. Isaiah in the temple. The disciples after the resurrection. The believers in Jerusalem after the outpouring of the Spirit. These are real moments of divine interruption. But the Scriptures do not present encounter as a self-contained spiritual high. They show that after God reveals Himself, He begins shaping a people who must learn how to live in light of what they have seen and heard.

That pattern is important.

Formation

We see this clearly in the story of Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not only rescue Israel from Egypt so they could remember one dramatic deliverance. He brought them out in order to bring them into covenant life. At Sinai, the people encountered the holy God in thunder, fire, boundary, and fear. That moment was unforgettable. But the purpose of Sinai was not simply spectacle. It was formation. Israel was being taught how to live as a people who belonged to the Lord.

The commandments were part of that formation. The calendar was part of that formation. The practices of justice, mercy, remembrance, worship, and holiness were part of that formation. God was shaping a people whose daily life would bear witness to His character. That means the encounter at Sinai only makes sense when we keep reading into the slow, demanding work of covenant obedience.

The same pattern continues in the New Testament. Yeshua calls disciples, and that calling changes everything. They leave nets, tables, assumptions, and old measures of greatness. They see miracles. They hear the voice of the Messiah. They witness things prophets longed to see. Still, their growth is gradual. They misunderstand. They fear. They compete. They speak too quickly. They fail to grasp what kind of kingdom Yeshua is bringing. Encounter did not erase their immaturity overnight.

That should give us some comfort. The disciples were truly called, truly near, and truly transformed by Yeshua’s presence, yet they still needed to be formed. He taught them again and again. He corrected them. He sent them out. He drew them aside. He exposed their pride. He strengthened their faith. Even after the resurrection, their understanding continued to deepen. In other words, the presence of God among them did not remove the need for patient formation. It made that formation possible.

This is where many modern believers get confused. We sometimes speak as though one moment with God should instantly make us whole, clear-minded, disciplined, and mature. When that does not happen, people either chase another emotional moment or assume something has gone wrong. Scripture gives a more honest picture. Genuine encounter can be life-changing and still require long obedience afterward. A holy beginning still needs faithful continuation.

Paul’s letters reflect this reality. He writes to congregations who have received the good news, who have been given the Spirit, and who are now being called into lives worthy of that calling. He speaks of putting away old patterns, renewing the mind, growing into maturity, learning obedience, walking by the Spirit, bearing with one another, and being built together as a holy people. That is the language of formation. The encounter has happened, but now the shaping must continue.

Formation is not glamorous. That is probably why people avoid it. Formation happens in repeated choices. When repentance becomes honest and quickly made. When Scripture is not only admired but obeyed. It happens when when speech is governed, when habits are brought under the lordship of Messiah, and when community life teaches us patience and humility. None of that usually feels dramatic. Yet this is where spiritual maturity takes root.

There is also a communal side to formation that we should not ignore. In the Bible, God does not only form isolated individuals. He forms a people. Israel is formed as a covenant community. The early disciples are formed together. The assemblies in the New Testament are taught how to live together in holiness, mutual care, and order. This means formation includes learning how to belong rightly to the people of God.

That truth has sharp implications for the church today, especially when it comes to Israel. One of the subtle problems in Christian thought is the habit of spiritualizing everything until the concrete people and purposes of God disappear from view. Many are comfortable talking about covenant, promise, blessing, calling, and chosenness in abstract spiritual terms, but uneasy when those same biblical realities remain tied to Israel in the scriptural story. That discomfort can become a polished form of displacement. It may sound spiritual, but it often trains people to read the Bible in a way that erases the people through whom God chose to speak and act in history.

That kind of spiritualizing is not a sign of maturity. It is often a sign that formation has been distorted. A mature reading of Scripture allows the Bible to keep its own texture, its own people, its own covenants, and its own story. This does not diminish Gentile believers. It teaches Gentile believers to read with humility and gratitude. It teaches us to honor the shape of the story we were brought into.

Formation after encounter, then, includes learning to resist self-centered readings of Scripture. It includes being corrected when our theology walks down a crooked path. It includes letting the text train us away from arrogance and into reverence. If God has brought us near, then we should be the sort of people who listen carefully to what He actually said and to whom He said it.

This has practical consequences in ordinary life. A person can have a sincere encounter with God and still need to grow in restraint, honesty, consistency, teachability, and love. A congregation can speak often about revival and still resist the daily work of becoming holy, stable, and truthful. A ministry can celebrate spiritual moments and still neglect the kind of formation that produces endurance. None of that is new. Scripture keeps calling us back to the long path.

This week’s theme asks us to take that path seriously. What happens after encounter? Do we return to old habits, assuming the moment itself was enough? Or do we allow God to form us patiently into people who can bear the weight of what we have received?

The witness of Scripture points in one direction. Encounter is precious, but formation is necessary. God does not reveal Himself merely to impress us. He reveals Himself in order to shape us. He calls people near, and then He teaches them how to live near Him. He gives grace, and then He trains us to walk in faithfulness. He meets us, and then He forms us.

That is good news, even when the process feels slow. Slow growth is still growth. Repeated repentance is still mercy at work. Daily obedience is still the evidence of grace. The God who meets His people is also the God who patiently forms them.

So do not despise the quiet work. Do not assume that only dramatic moments are holy. Some of the most important work God does in a life happens after the encounter, in the ordinary days when truth is practiced, character is shaped, and faith becomes steady.

That is where maturity begins.