Distinguishing Characteristics

We all have favorite stories, verses, or books of the Bible.  Sometimes they are our favorite because of special memories we have connected to the passage.  Sometimes the verse is special because it spoke to us at a time in our lives when we really needed to hear what was being said.  Other times, our own heart’s desire is captured very clearly by the living Word of God.  This is the case for me today.  When I discovered Exodus chapter 33 anew a few years ago, it so clearly communicated what I could not say in words.

Today we will focus on Exodus 33.  To provide some background, Moses has just discovered that the Israelites built the golden calf and worshiped it as he was on the mountain speaking with God.  Moses destroyed the calf, God threatened to wipe the Israelites from the earth, and Moses plead with God to spare them.  We now join Moses and God in their conversation in the aftermath of the Israelites idolatry.

In Exodus 33:1-3, God tells Moses to pack up and leave the place where they are staying.  They are to go to the land that God had promised and he will give them the land.  But God adds this caveat, He will not be going.  God explains that he will send his angel before them and they will have victory, but God will not go because of the peoples’ stubbornness.  God is very frank with them, in verse 3 God says, “I might destroy you on the way.”  God has decided not to go.

Moses is distraught by this revelation.  Verses 7 – 11 describe in detail how and where Moses would meet with God.  But verse 11 is particularly poignant:

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.   (Exodus 33:11a)

Moses went to talk to God.  Verses 12 – 17 contains one of the most touching conversations with God in the entire Bible.  It rivals any conversation that Jesus had with his followers while he was incarnate on the earth.  I will include it in it’s entirety here:

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 of 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.”

This communication is so moving, and so deeply touching that I have difficulty finding words to describe it.  Moses pours his heart out to God.  To me, the emotion is the same as the young woman falling at Jesus feet and washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50).  The outward expression is different, but the inward emotion is the same.

Moses cries out to God and makes his plea.  Moses is paralyzed without the Presence of the living God with him.  Moses never lost sight of the fact that it was God who freed the people from Egypt, it was God who provided the manna from heaven, it was God who met with him on the mountain.

The people always believed that Moses, and not God, had the power.  They could not see that Moses was only God’s vessel.  The reason they so quickly turned to idolatry when Moses was gone was because they believed in the man, not his God.  But Moses was different.  He understood that it was the power, the presence, and the leadership of God that set him apart.

Look at Moses’ question in verse 16, “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

What an insightful question.  We must ask this question of ourselves today.  What distinguishes you and I from everyone else?  In modern American Christendom, we put bumper stickers on our cars, wear necklaces around our neck, bracelets on our arms, and t-shirts on our backs.  But often times, we are missing the very thing that Moses knew thousands of years ago.  It is only the presence of the living God that will distinguish us from those who do not yet know Him.

When was the last time you cried out to God and said, “If you will not go with me, I will not go?”  When was the last time that you pleaded with God to reveal himself to you?

Everything else pales in comparison.

I am writing this now in a time of great personal transition.  God is pulling us in a new direction, away from everything we have known and have come so accustomed to.  It is a painful, scary, and uncertain time.  It is also exciting and encouraging.  But especially now, my heart cries out, “God, if you do not go before me, I will not go.”

Thought Questions

1. What does it mean in your life for the Presence of God to go before you?
2. What thoughts, feelings or attitudes keep you from asking God to go before you?  His offer is available to anyone who asks.
3. What are some personal characteristics of one who daily lives in the Presence of God? (See Galatians 5:22-23)

I encourage you to post your comments, questions, or thoughts so that we can continue Discovering Together.

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