Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
‘Teamwork’ is essential to success in athletics, business, politics, and almost any endeavor including family, would you agree? So I wonder what some of your most enjoyable ‘teamwork’ experiences have been… and of course I’m sure you’ll quickly think of some of your failed ‘teamwork’ experiences, also.
So have you ever considered what it would be like to engage ‘teamwork’ with God!? You and God… working together as a ‘team’ toward an objective you both share a passion for? That my friends, is the life God really desires for you and me and ALL God’s people around the world, regardless of the place where you live, your age, your skin color, the language you speak, your economic or educational level, your vocation, your gender, or even your marital status. That’s what God was trying to develop with Moses and the 1 million Hebrews God has rescued from Egyptian slavery. But then… the people turned away from both Moses and God, and fabricated a golden calf idol calling it their god!
The last few days we’ve been looking at what happened next in their story, since there are so many great lessons for us to learn about this situation. Yesterday we looked at the little ‘tent of meeting‘ Moses pitched outside the camp. He met with God often there, and sometimes Joshua also met God there. Moses had offered it to anyone who wanted some time with God, but we find no record of anyone else taking advantage of the ‘tent of meeting‘! I hope you had a great time with God in your tent yesterday with that wonderful song at the conclusion of our reflections.
In Exodus 33:12 Moses records for us one of the most significant encounters he ever had with God in that tent. It was another life changing God encounter. Here’s how Moses described it: “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.” (Ex. 33:12-13) Oh my this is awesome, isn’t it? Moses has reached a point in his relationship with God that he can ask God hard questions, expecting straightforward answers. Do you notice Moses is grateful for God’s assigning him the primary leadership role with these people, but he feels a great need for help, for ‘teamwork’, in leading 1 million former slaves on a journey across the desert. Now we can’t blame him for that can we? It was a huge leadership task, far beyond what any single person could do!
But I think I love even more Moses’ second question or request of God: “Teach me YOUR ways so I may know YOU and continue to find favor with YOU.” Wow, that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, how about you my friends? Are you satisfied with knowing things ABOUT God or do you really have a deep desire to KNOW God personally and live in a ‘teamwork’ relationship with Him? Do you see the huge difference between the ways of God and the normal ways of human beings, and do you have a deep hunger to learn God’s ways so you can live those ways consistently? King David had this same deep desire. He wrote: “Teach me Your ways, O God, and I will walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name. I will praise You, O LORD my God, with all my heart. I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love for me and You have delivered me…” (Ps. 86:11-13)
So what would it take for us, you and me, to have this deep desire which Moses and David both had? I think John the beloved disciple had this desire also, and he gives us insight into how to keep this desire a burning passion… stay close to Jesus!! Remember John was often sitting next to Jesus at meals, (John 13:23) and John was invited by Jesus to special prayer times (Matt. 17:1 & 26:36-38). And you’ll remember John was the only disciple at the foot of the cross, when Jesus was crucified! (John 19:25-27)
May I ask my friends, can you echo Moses’ request? Do you want God to teach you HIS ways? Do you want to KNOW God, in a deep, personal relationship, not just know about God? Now look at God’s response to this courageous request of Moses… “The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Ex. 33:14) This must have been one of the most powerful promises Moses ever heard from God! In fact, look at Moses’ response to God. This is one of my favorite statements in the entire Bible. “Then Moses said to God, ‘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 other people on the face of the earth?“ (Ex. 33:15,16) Oh my that’s profound isn’t it? It causes us to contemplate… what is the tangible, recognizable evidence that GOD is Present with you and me? How can you tell when God is PLEASED with you? And the biggest question… what DISTINGUISHES a person who is walking in the Presence of God, from all other people on earth?
Again, listen to how a wise man named Ethan the Ezrahite wrote about this, 500 years after Moses… “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your Presence, O LORD. They rejoice in Your name all day long, they exult in Your righteousness. For YOU, O God, are their glory and strength…” (Psalm 89:15,16) By the way, if you are interested to know who this Ethan the Ezrahite was, check out 1 Kings 4:31 where King Solomon is compared to Ethan as among the wisest men in the world at that time!
In this remarkable conversation between Moses and God, listen to what God said in response to Moses’ profound request: “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.“ (Ex. 33:17) Oh my friends, pause right here a moment. Do you believe God is speaking that over you… that He is pleased with you and He knows you by name? How does that concept, that possibility, impact your heart and mind? And when you add to this the promise God made to Moses, what would your life be like if God’s Presence was radically evident to you and anyone who knows you, as you walk the path of the rest of your life?
Tomorrow we’ll look at Moses’ remarkable response to this offer by God and the unique experience Moses had with God in the days which followed. For the rest of his life Moses pointed back to this conversation with God as a pinnacle moment that led him into the most radical experience that he ever had with God! For today, I urge you to spend some time right now reading and re-reading Exodus 33:12-17, and look deeply into YOUR relationship with God. What might happen in your life if you and God developed a ‘teamwork’ like God and Moses developed?
Here’s a song to help you reflect on that. I hope you have your journal handy to write down what God may say to you in these next moments… while this song begins familiar, some new and very thoughtful words have been added. Listen closely my friends and I hope they reflect the worship of your heart…
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 33:12-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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