If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.
* * * * *
James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.”(1) He wrote that statement knowing our propensity to drift away from God, instead of drawing closer to Him. He warned us that our loyalty is divided between God and the world.(2) i fear that all too often we desire the blessings of God in our lives over the presence of God in our lives.
Moses, on the other hand, made it very clear that he did not want to experience the blessing of God if it came without the presence of God.(3) He had already experienced an intimacy with the Lord God Jehovah that exceeded that which most others, even to this day, have ever experienced on this side of heaven.(4)God had called him His friend - a designation which to that point had only been shared with Abraham. Moses had found favor with God. His actions had demonstrated a heart that desired to seek and serve his Lord. He spoke to God with a confidence and a boldness that also conveyed reverence and awe.
God had used Moses as His chosen vessel when He turned the water into blood, the bitter into sweet, and the Red Sea into an instrument of deliverance and destruction. God had taken a man who worried about his eloquence before Pharaoh and given him a boldness of speech before the God of heaven. God had taken a shepherd from the mountains of Horeb and made him into His undershepherd over His flock. God had chosen to meet with Moses at a burning bush, in the Tent of meeting, and on Mount Sinai in the clouds. God had given him immediate access to His throne when he called upon Him for wisdom, direction and deliverance. But Moses wanted more! He had heard God’s voice, and he had experienced God’s presence, but that caused him to desire to draw even closer and see God’s glory – not from afar, but from close up.
The more time we spend with God, the more time we will desire to spend with Him. The more we hear His voice, the more we will desire to hear Him. The more we experience His presence, the more we will desire to experience Him. The closer we draw to His presence, the closer still we will desire to be. The more we know Him, the more we will love Him. The more we love Him, the closer we will desire to be to Him. The closer we draw to Him the more we will know Him, and the more we will desire to see of Him.
Spending time in the presence of God will place within our souls an insatiable thirst to spend more time with Him. I have heard people ask, “What will we be able to do in heaven for eternity?” We will be able to spend eternity with God! If that doesn’t make sense to you then I would assert that you have not yet spent time in the intimacy of His presence. Too many of us are content to know about God or to know Him from a distance, just like the children of Israel did. But Moses desired to know Him more. He desired to be with Him even closer.
What about us? Do we desire to know Him more? Do we desire to see His glory? i don’t mean a mental assent that says, “Of course, i am a Christian, that is what i am supposed to want.” Rather, i’m talking about an insatiable heart hunger that cries out to God for more and more of Him. A cry that says, “i am not content to stand afar off with the crowd and see You. i desire to be in Your presence and look upon You.”
Throughout God’s Word, He has promised that if we seek Him with our whole hearts, we will find Him. God made the Way through His Son that we might know Him and that we might know the intimacy of His presence. He gave us the thirst to be in His presence. Unfortunately we, even those of us who claim to be God’s children, have allowed other things – counterfeits – to creep into our lives in an effort to satisfy that thirst. And we have done it for so long that we can no longer tell the difference. But God desires to reignite our hunger and thirst for Him. If we will surrender to Him whatever we have allowed to become a substitute, He will replace it with the real thing. He will give us that desire – and that desire for even more.
Through Jesus, we have been allowed access to an elite fellowship with God. Jesus has told us, “You are My friends if you obey Me. I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are My friends, since I have told you everything the Father told Me.”(5) He has called us His friend. He has given us the same access that Abraham and Moses had, if we will but obey Him. And with that access comes the right, honor and privilege of knowing Him more.
God covered Moses with His hand until He had passed, because he knew that Moses could not see His glory in its fullness and survive. But God granted His request; He enabled Moses to see His glorious presence from behind. And as he saw, he still wanted more.
God is leading us through the journey of our lives so that through it, we might know Him, know Him more and know Him more intimately. As we respond to His invitation to know Him, we too, will still want even more.
* * * * *
You can read about Moses’ request in the Book of Exodus, chapter 33, verses 17 through 23.
Also, i have excerpted portions of this post from chapter 54 of my book, The Journey Begins. For more information about the book, click here.
(1) James 4:8 (NLT)
(2) James 4:8
(3) Exodus 33:15
(4) Exodus 33: 17-23 (NLT)
And 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." Then Moses had one more request. "Please let me see your glorious presence," he said. The 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. But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live." The LORD continued, "Stand here on this rock beside me. As 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. Then I will remove my hand, and you will see me from behind. But my face will not be seen."
(5) John 15:14-15 (NLT)
Copyright © 2023 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
Photo by Bas van den Eijkhof on Lightstock