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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Moses said to the Lord, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom You will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with Me.' If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people."
The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
Then Moses said to Him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
Exodus 33:12-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
One of my favorite classic praise and worship songs was done by the group Sonicflood and was titled, "I Want To Know You."
The chorus goes like this:
I want to know You
I want to hear Your voice
I want to know You more
I want to touch You
I want to see Your face
I want to know You more
As I read today’s passage from chapter 33 of the Book of Exodus, I couldn’t help but think about this song in reference to how Moses feels toward God.
In this passage, we find Moses once again in conversation with the Lord and concerned about moving forward from Mount Sinai toward Canaan without His divine help. For we find Moses say to the Lord:
"You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but You have not let me know whom You will send with me."
These are words from a man who trusts and believes that Israel will only succeed with God by their side. Moses had watched God deliver Israel from Egypt and the Amalekites, each time rescuing them from impending danger. He knew there was still much ahead and potential threats lying in wait and so he feared what might happen if God was absent from His people.
Through his words, we see an important character trait in Moses that all believers need to adopt, a genuine, heartfelt reliance on God.
After this, Moses continues to speak, repeating words that God had said about him:
“I know you by name and you have found favor with Me."
The first words here are important for to “know someone by name” is to be familiar with them. God chose Moses to lead the Israelites and knew him better than he knew himself. This was a great assurance for him as it should be for all those who place their hope and trust in the Lord.
The second thing we see here is that Moses knew God had found favor in Him. In other words, Moses knew that God was pleased with him and the way he was serving obediently.
Then, Moses says this:
"If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You."
Moses knew that he couldn’t succeed in leading the Israelite people toward achieving God’s will without the help of his Lord. And so he humbles himself before God, wanting to know Him more and seeking His instruction so he could continue to live in the favor of his Lord.
In sum, Moses wasn’t willing to be satisfied with where he was in his relationship with God.
He wanted to know Him more.
He wanted to learn more of His ways.
And he wanted God to live in a way that pleased Him, in a way that would gain His favor.
Friends, isn’t this what we all should be striving for as believers each and every day?
Moses gives us a blueprint to follow so we will always look to grow in our relationship with the Lord within every day that He blessed us with. Since none of us are perfect, we can never perfectly know Him and so there’s always room to be in better relation with God today than we were yesterday.
Back to the scriptures where we find God responding to the wonderful words of Moses.
First, we find Him making this promise:
"My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
Now, Moses could have accepted this and been content as it was directed toward him personally. But he was not one who was selfish. Rather, he was inclined to think about his brothers and sisters, those God had given him to lead. And so we find him saying this to the Lord:
"If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
Notice here how Moses asks for God’s presence and His pleasure to be with all of the Israelites, not just himself. The main point Moses was making with the Lord was that the only way that Israel could be safe as they continued their journey to the Promised Land was in their Lord was with them. They couldn’t be successful on their own without Him and it was Him being with them, His people, that would distinguish them from any other people.
How did the Lord respond to Moses’ unselfish plea?
We read where he blesses him and the Israelites saying:
"I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
We should see here that God didn’t agree to go because He was pleased with the people of Israel. Rather, He complied because Moses had earned His favor and that favor then spilled over onto the people he was leading.
Indeed, with the leadership of Moses and him facilitating the presence of God, the people of Israel had hope.
Before we close for today, let’s look at this lesson as it applies to our lives, using several self reflecting questions to see how we measure up to the spirit of Moses we see in these verses:
- Do I have a heartfelt reliance on God?
- Do I seek to know God intimately? Do I set aside time to meet with Him every day?
- Am I always intentional in my efforts to live in God’s favor, careful to make sure my thoughts, words, and behavior is pleasing to Him? Do I make obedience to His Word and way a priority in my life?
- Am I ever hungry to know God more, to have a stronger relationship with Him? Do I thirst for teaching from Him, His Word, and His Spirit?
- Am I eager to comply with the will of my Lord, putting my own desires second?
Friends, these questions are important because in Moses, we catch an important glimpse into what God is looking for in us. The good news is that we can achieve all this and more because indeed, our Lord is ever with us providing His perfect strength, His perfect Word, His perfect will, and His perfect self.
When we stay yoked to Him, we will accomplish all He has purposed us for and be prepared for the day when we will see Him face to face, living with Him forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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