Exodus 33: 12-23

¹²Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, `Take these people up to the Promised Land.' But you haven't told me whom you will send with me. You call me by name and tell me I have found favor with you. ¹³Please, if this is really so, show me your intentions so I will understand you more fully and do exactly what you want me to do. Besides, don't forget that this nation is your very own people."

¹⁴And the LORD replied, "I will personally go with you, Moses. I will give you rest--everything will be fine for you."

¹⁵Then Moses said, "If you don't go with us personally, don't let us move a step from this place. ¹⁶If you don't go with us, how will anyone ever know that your people and I have found favor with you? How else will they know we are special and distinct from all other people on the earth?"

¹⁷And the LORD replied to Moses, "I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and you are my friend."

¹⁸Then Moses had one more request. "Please let me see your glorious presence," he said.

¹⁹The LORD replied, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, `the LORD,' to you. I will show kindness to anyone I choose, and I will show mercy to anyone I choose. ²⁰But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live." ²¹The LORD continued, "Stand here on this rock beside me. ²²As my glorious presence passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed. ²³Then I will remove my hand, and you will see me from behind. But my face will not be seen."

Points of Interest:

· ‘you haven't told me whom you will send with me’—God has told him that he will send his angel. Perhaps what Moses means is something like, ‘You and I are friends, but I hardly know this angel. Do you really intend to send me on this mission with a stranger?’

· ‘I will personally go with you, Moses’—apparently, the personal request from Moses convinces God to change his mind about only sending the angel. It seems that it is personal concern for Moses that motivates him to change. When Moses expresses his worries about the angel plan, God quickly responds with comfort and assurance for Moses particularly.

· ‘If you don't go with us personally’—God has just said that he will go personally, but Moses wants to be absolutely clear on this point. Whether or not God personally goes with them is a very big deal to Moses. If God doesn’t go, neither will Moses. God has promised Moses that he will give them everything they want: they’ll get the land, and they’ll get help from the angel in driving out the Canaanites and the other nations. But, to Moses, God’s blessings are insufficient if they don’t come with his presence. Moses would rather be in the desert with God than in the promised land without him. Moses wants the people to be known as God’s special people much more than he wants them to be known as the people who live in the promised land.

· ‘your people and I have found favor with you’—Moses wants for the whole people what he already has: favor with God.

· ‘Moses had one more request’—after having succeeded in his request on behalf of the people, Moses goes on to a more personal one. What he wants is to see God. The previous passage already says that Moses speaks with God face to face, but here God says that no one can survive looking directly at his face. Apparently, there’s a whole new level of being able to see God’s face that Moses hasn’t yet experienced. Perhaps God has kept his face veiled in some way, or perhaps Moses is asking that God would somehow improve his eyesight, allowing for an even deeper or clearer perception. In any case, what Moses has already experienced of God’s presence makes him hungry for even more. God can’t give him everything he asks for, but he does give him as much as Moses could handle.

· ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you’—Moses asks to see God’s glory, and God responds that he will show his goodness. God’s goodness is his glory. In God’s own opinion, what’s most glorious about him is his incredible ability to show kindness and mercy.

Taking it home:

· For you: Moses gets a glimpse of God’s face, and it only makes him hungry for more. Cultivate that same hunger yourself. Boldly ask God to draw you deeper into his presence than you’ve ever been before.

· For your six: When given the choice between God’s provision and God’s presence, Moses chooses God’s presence. Pray for your six, that the Holy Spirit would awaken in them such a desire to be with God. Pray that God would richly provide for them, but in such a way that it leaves them dissatisfied with mere material provision.

· For our church: Moses has a special relationship with God, but it does not cause him to look down on anybody else. In fact, there’s nothing he wants more than to see the whole people experience the same special relationship. He doesn’t want to be God’s favored one at the expense of anyone else: he wants the whole people to be God’s favorite. Ask the Holy Spirit to give us the same humility and generosity as Moses demonstrates here. Ask God to protect us from the temptation to compare with others or to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, and pray that we would use whatever intimacy with God we have to bless others.