Exodus 33: 12-23, “And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”
The Lord called Moses when he was a shepherd working in Midian. Moses did what the Lord commanded him to do and led Israel out of slavery in Egypt. However, Moses still had some questions and he felt confident, at that stage, to ask the Lord these questions. Moses wanted to know where he was going, after all he hadn’t been to the Promised Land before, and he wanted to know more about the Lord’s identity. The Lord promised Moses that He would go with Moses and Moses knew that he would not be able to achieve anything without the Lord’s presence. Moses wanted to see the Lord’s glory, after all he was doing everything he could to bring glory to the Lord’s Name. However, the Lord is not like any of the other gods, He is pure and holy and no man can look upon His glory and live. The Lord gave Moses the opportunity to see the back of His glory and placed Moses in a small cleft in the rocks and covered Moses while His glory passed by. We should understand that Moses was a man at that time and the Lord could only speak to him in a way that he could understand. The Lord is infinite and eternal and we cannot completely understand His ways so the Lord dealt with Moses in grace and allowed Moses to see what he could understand. The Lord always understands that we are just people, confined in time and space, and He always comes to where we are rather than demanding that we go to Him.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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