Journey, 11-14-07

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.” 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 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 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.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
Exodus 33:12-13a, 14-18


I love both of Moses’ requests in this passage. God has called Moses to a huge job, the job of leading a stubborn and complaining people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. In this situation Moses could have asked for many things. He needed God’s protection. He needed God’s provision for the people. He needed direction and victory over the enemies surrounding them. Yet, what did he ask?

He asked first for God to teach him His ways. The first thing on Moses’ mind is that He wants to please God and continue to find favor in His eyes. In the front of his mind stands the desire to learn from God. God’s response to this request caught my attention. He promises that His Presence will go with Moses and He adds something else. He says that He will give Moses “rest.” I am sure that rest is not something that was on Moses’ calendar. I think his day-planner included tasks like: lead this vast number of people through enemy infested deserts, feed them, find water, handle all their complaints and don’t lose anyone. I don’t imagine that he penciled in much time to rest. Yet, that was God’s promise to Moses. “I will give you rest.”

Moses seems to skip over this statement. The next verse shows him still focused on God’s presence with them. Moses focuses on God’s presence because he knows that without it he is doomed to fail. When God assures Moses once again that He will be with him, then Moses makes another request. He says, “Now show me your glory.” I wonder if this request had to do with the rest God had promised. You see, I have found in my life that rest doesn’t just come from times of leisure or the removal of responsibility. True rest comes from gazing on the glory of God. When we turn our eyes fully onto the LORD and see His glory, then all the other cares of the world start to slip away. When we turn our eyes fully on Jesus and gaze deeply we find peace. Like a child held safe in their parents arms, we find security and our souls can rest in safety.

I wonder if these thoughts motivated Moses’ request. I wonder if he thought, ok – now that I have assurance that you will go with me in the overwhelming task you have given me, now I’ll take some of that rest you promised. Show me your glory and renew my soul.

These thoughts have been circling around in my mind lately. I have the Holy Spirit within me and God has shown me so many times that He is with me and that He goes before me in this life He has called me to. In the midst of all the busyness, the frustrations, the sacrifices and difficulties, God’s offer of rest still stands. So today I am asking God that He will show me His glory. That He would hide me in the cleft of the rock, cover me with his hand and let his glory pass by, renewing my soul with a vision of His glory.

May we all find rest and renewal for our souls as we gaze on the LORD of Glory.