Exodus 33:12-17 The Promise of God’s Presence
12 Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’ 13 Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”
14 And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 “If Your Presence does not go with us,” Moses replied, “do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”
13 Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.” 14 And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
If ever there was a lonely man, Moses would be it! Once, Moses trusted his brother Aaron, but the golden calf incident ended that. The seventy elders who shared the covenant meal stayed in their tents during the orgy, refusing to exercise leadership as if the recent covenant with God meant nothing. Now Moses has only his young assistant Joshua, but the generation gap creates problems. Moses is eighty years old while Joshua is less than half that. Frankly, Moses needs some assurance. What if his strength fails? What if his memory fades? What if the Israelites rebel again and stone him? Moses is acutely conscious that without his leadership, the Israelites might just wander off into the wilderness and die there, and he feels totally inadequate to the situation.
I can sympathize with Moses! These last few weeks, we have been clearing out the possessions we have left in America. We are preparing to relocate to Ghana semi-permanently. We are trying to work out all kinds of details while we visit friends and family.
When we return, I will be one of two doctors for a hospital that serves 120,000 people. My constant prayer is that God will keep us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually sharp and that He will raise up other doctors to take up the work so our patients will not suffer. I beg God for us to be a blessing as long as we live. We need God’s assurance that His presence will go with us and that He will give us the rest we need to continue the work.
Psalm 73:25-26 tells us, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” This past summer, we have had the wonderful opportunity to attend several class reunions and other events where we have seen long-time friends and family. Time has changed all of us, carving lines on our faces, giving some of us grey highlights in our hair while others have lost their hair entirely. It has been both poignant and moving to reunite; however, we remain conscious that we might be seeing loved ones for the last time before eternity. Only God remains eternal and unchangeable.
18 Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.” There is nothing wrong with asking God to show us His glory. Here Moses is not asking out of pride but from desperation. Moses needs a vision of God that will remain with him during the tough times. Who knows what other problems the Israelites will cause? Moses loves God, just as God loves Moses. Even though Moses has met with God on Mount Sinai already, Moses remains hungry for a larger vision of God. God is always ready to show us more of Himself, for He is infinitely kind and gracious. We are the ones who falter and fail to ask. There is nothing wrong with any of us asking God to show us His glory, for such visions can help sustain us through dark days.
Recently, we visited elderly friends whom we have loved for years. Now the wife’s memory is failing, while the husband’s strength is waning. But even when the wife can’t remember simple things, her constant response remains “Hallelujah!” The husband is caring tenderly for his beloved and continuing to fellowship with God.
19 “I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
20 But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
21 The LORD continued, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock, 22 and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”
If any of us were to be exposed to the full glory of God, we would be vaporized in an instant. God hides us in the cleft of the rock so that we can glimpse His glory without being destroyed by it. As we age, may God continue to reveal more and more of His glory, and may we continue to seek His presence. For in His presence, there will be peace and rest.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, please help us to continue to seek Your presence as we age. Please keep us mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually sharp all our days. And please give us Your peace and Your rest. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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