"SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!"
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ 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 also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:12-17)
At some point in their journey of faith, many believers come to a point where they doubt. Healthy doubt is not necessarily a good thing, even though it demonstrates a certain lack of faith. In Mark 9:23-24, Jesus encountered a young boy who was possessed by an evil spirit rendered him deaf and dumb. The boy’s father asked for Jesus’ healing mercy, grace and compassion and the response of the Lord is classic “If you can, believe, all things are possible to him who believes”. The response of the father of this poor young chap should be the cry of anyone who is struggling in their faith. Whether this struggle is to persevere through trials, tribulations and long illnesses which we have prayed about or other things, we all need this encouragement to know that the Lord our God is with us….that His Presence goes with a before us. After Jesus said those words (in red) to this man, the man said “I believe, help my unbelief”. Jesus then healed the young boy.
What this tell us that being in the Presence of the Lord is even colored by doubt. However, never let your doubts hold you back from wanting more of His influence and power in your life! At the point of conversion, we receive the same Spirit of God Who raised Jesus from the dead on Resurrection morning. The Holy Spirit is 100% God and we have Him sealed in with our spirit, until the Day of Redemption when we leave this earth to be with the Lord.
In order to experience the FULLNESS of joy, as the psalmist says, we must allow Him to work in us. That is, we decrease in pride, arrogance and doing things our way, that He might increase (John 3:30). We must also decrease in wanting to do things our way and start doing what we said we do as Christians - submit to the Lordship of Christ. Moses knew that. Moses knew God Face to face more than once. Moses felt the Heartbeat of God because His Spirit moved Moses to write the story of Creation, the Flood, the Patriarchs, the Exodus and more. Because he God intimately, he was the most humble man of all....and the Bible tells us so...read Numbers 12:3 here.
This is one of the greatest lessons for ALL of us, as we study the Life and Prayers of Moses, from the Pentateuch (Torah, Law). He never asked anything for himself. God gave him the most impossible mission - corralling and leading millions of unruly Israelites out of Egypt and through a desert for 40 years. Yet, apart from losing it and striking the rock (thereby losing his life to disobedience), he always did what God told him. All the prayers of Moses we study through Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy show a man praying for his people, so this prayer request in Exodus 33:12-17 was extra special.
Moses said "I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way" (Exodus 33:12b-13a). He wanted to see the Father, literally! We know no one has seen God and lived. However many have seen the Living Christ - Who died on the Cross in 33 AD and rose again. Moses himself spent untold days with Him on the Mountain getting the Law and the first five books of the Bible.
The Father was gracious unto Moses and saved his life by putting him in a rock as He passed by. He did that so Moses could still see His Glory passing by (from His back) yet continue his physical existence. God is amazing. He answered the first request from Moses to "show me Your Way" like this: And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14). The second time Moses asked the same question but this time included the family of God traveling with him (all the Israelites) and it was only THEN God the Father allowed Moses to see His passing Glory!
That is a good lesson too...as favored and as loved and humble Moses was by God, the only Promise to him from Above was the Presence of the Lord (The Holy Spirit Who also lives in us) and REST (verse 14)!! That's it! But showing the closeness of his relationship with the Lord, you can actually read the TONE Moses uses here, when he expanded his first personal request to include those under his charge.
This is our precise charge to pray. Even if we have children or in some cases, grandchildren who are not saved, let us resolve to pray for them first for salvation and for others to succeed, be healed or for guidance. In that way, we will not only see our own spiritual lives soar, but from first hand experience, I can tell you - you will see more than just Creation out there in the Supernatural. God will give you things to see which not many of His own saints will never see. This is the reward of humility similar to the great lawgiver, Moses.
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