“’Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.’ And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.’ Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” – Exodus 33:13-18
Just a few verses before this passage (Exodus 33:4-5), the Lord threatened to withdraw His presence from the people of Israel because of their outright rebellion against Him. Moses desperately pleaded with God not to withdraw from His people and He relented. Why was Moses so frightened at the threat of losing God’s presence? This passage shows us why. Moses was intimately aware of two realities: his own weakness and the greatness of the One True God of the Universe. Moses was by no means a perfect leader. At his worst, he could be angry, impulsive, and unwise. However, Moses’ abiding relationship with the Lord regularly brought him face to face with those deficiencies and God’s gracious provision. Moses’ posture of dependency, in turn, allowed God to do incredible things through him. When the presence of the Lord is what we long for, He will be faithful to give us what we desire.
How different would your life be without the presence of God?
