“Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee.” Exodus 33:13
Dear Ones:
It has been said that, ” The Christian life, reduced to fellowship with Christ, makes the complicated simple.” This in great part is true. What then are the essential elements of this “fellowship with Christ,” with God, that are so important to respect and practice, as to insure God’s blessing, and revelation to the heart?
There came a day in the life of Moses, after Israel had rebelled against God, creating for itself its “own god,” in the form of a golden calf, that Moses would specifically seek the Lord, and this, for specific things. Moses’ experience, age, maturity, and over-all desire to know God, had brought him to see two things that were essential if he was to attain his objective. Much like the later experience of Elisha, who requested of Elijah just one thing before he was taken to heaven, so Moses was absolutely sure, clear, and convinced of these two things which He would ask God for. What were they?
The first was revealed in the following request: “Show me NOW Thy way, that I may know Thee.” Again, let us remember that Moses is very earnest, and serious, about this matter of knowing God. This is no game, no distraction here. It is for him life itself. So why does He ask God to reveal to him the knowledge of His “way?” From the revelation of God in the burning bush, where He reveals to Moses that He is holy, there is that increasing conviction that this Holy God will ONLY be known in HIS way. It will not be the way of sinful man. It will not be only objective truth either. So what is it? The Lord answers Moses, like He answered Thomas the disciple, hundreds of years later: “And He said, ‘My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.'” (Ex. 33:14) To Thomas he will say, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by Me.” (Jn. 14:6) What is God saying here to Moses, that applied to Thomas, and to us now? It is that God, in revealing Himself to man, always does so according to the objective truth of His word. This is the first step in the knowledge of His ways. But there is also, the unveiling of the presence of His Person, His nature…by His Spirit. Christ IS the objective truth, but He is also the very Life and Power by which we are to live. So, when He reveals to Moses that His way is His presence, and to Thomas that He, His Person, is the way, He is shutting them both up to Himself as the entire reason, means, and essence of His WAY. Christ is personal, and the revelation of His person is to the heart of the individual by the Spirit.
The second petition of Moses is a very bold one. Is the believer not called upon, like Moses, to be bold in his approach to God? To be sure, this “boldness” is only based upon the finished work of Christ, and the worth of His precious blood before the Father. The Spirit of God is given to us, not to be timid, but to come boldly by His strengthening. So, what is it that Moses boldly asks of God? “And he said, ‘I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” (33:19) What is this glory of God? Moses is asking for a clear perception of the nature, character, and person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the personal revelation of Christ to his heart. Does God honor this request? Yes. He says: “I will make all my goodness pass before Thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord.” (v.19) This He did in His way, for His glory.
Dear Father, for Thy name’s sake, open our eyes to see truly that You ARE our way, Thy Son being our life, Shepherd, Savior, Keeper, and so much more. Reveal to us individually Thy glory by anointing our eyes to see Thee in Thy beauty and wonder. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad