Page 57 - Living Light Autumn 23

THIS WEEK’S BIBLE INSIGHTS ARE BY:
Ian Moore and are based on Exodus 33:12-23 (NIV)
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ON THIS WEEK’S MAJOR THEME:
Psalm 71
12 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 favour with me.” 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.’
14 The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’
15 Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 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?’
17 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.’ 18 Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your
glory.’
19 And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my
goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’
21 Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’
Sunday November 5 - Intimacy with God
“You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.” Exodus 33:12
As we journey with Moses, we get to see a man with a heart like the heart of God, but nonetheless a man of human frailty. Shortly after receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses returned to find his brother Aaron and the people worshipping a handmade golden calf. Moses realised that he faced a gargantuan task, one even greater than crossing the Red Sea – to lead a volatile nation across the wilderness to the land of promise.
Moses needed more than instruction; he needed someone to be by his side, on whom he could depend. Do you feel like Moses? You know what you must do, but you feel unable to do it. Moses’ cry was a cry for intimacy with God; he needed to know God alongside and to hear his voice. That’s the way it was in the beginning with Adam – God walked with him in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). Enoch, Noah and Abraham were all commended for ‘walking with God’.
Jesus’ call to you and to me is, “Come walk with me”. And as you walk, you will naturally converse. Such times are so precious. When you walk in his ways, he promises to be “with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). May you know Jesus’ sweet presence with you right now.
Gracious Father, you are ‘most high’; may I know you ‘most nigh’. Please speak to me today, letting me know you are with me. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY