AN INTIMATE, ALL-POWERFUL GOD (PART 2)

EXODUS 33:7-17

We are going deeper in this study about the heart of God. And we are currently looking to our perspectives of who He is. What lens do we see Him through? What type of human qualities we place on Him?

Last week, we looked at two examples for Exodus and Leviticus that showed us the time that people either understood the reverence or respect for God but lacked the relationship. And the people that was extremely close to God but lacked reverence for His holiness.

This week we are going to look at the example of Moses and how he gives us an example of the balance between the two.

We are trying to establish how to have a proper view or a proper approach of our relationship with God.

The balance of respect and relationship.

First we are going to look at 7-11 and look at how Moses approaches having a relationship with God

Read the verses.

Now, let’s go back through this slower because as we look at each verse, we see the approach of respect or reverence and deep personal relationship.

Vs 7 Say that Moses took a tent far away from camp. It would be the designated meeting with God tent. It was intentional and deliberate.

He got away from the distractions and business of the camp. He got away from the noise and set up a place that he could be intentional about being alone with the Lord.

Kind of like the other week when I challenged us to get alone with the Lord in creation.

He was intentional to get away and be alone with the Lord. He went to go meet with God.

Vs 8 talks about how the Israelites had gained a lot of reverence for the Lord after the golden calf incident. They all stopped what they were doing. They stopped the business of life and stood in awe of a meeting with God. They approached a relationship with God with great reverence and respect for the honor of what they were about to receive.

Vs 9 says that God would respond to their reverence for Him by bringing His presence to meet with Moses.

The cloud would descend from heaven and meet with and speak with Moses.

Vs 10 shows us that we approach a relationship with God with respect and reverence and God shows us His presence with all that He is, our natural response is to worship.

We can not help but stand in awe of a God who is as powerful as all of the ways that the Israelites had seen, actually want to have a relationship with them. Actually want to lead and guide them. Actually care about their well-being. Actually want to provide for them.

Their natural response to God meeting their reverence with an intimate relationship brought them to a place of worship.

Vs 11 is one of the great wonders of scripture. The powerful statement that God would speak with Moses, face to face as a man speaks to a friend.

I don’t pretend how that was possible or exactly what that looked like but that’s not the point here.

The point is the level of intimacy that is possible with God. The point here is that the all-powerful, all-mighty, supernatural, plague causing sea-splitting, mountain burning, God of the universe and all that is it in wants to have the most personal and intimate relationship with mankind. The point is that God desires to have this with us, humans.

When it comes to this view or perspective of our relationship with God, what we can learn from this passage is this.

INTENTIONAL REVERENCE IS OUR PART. INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP IS GOD’S PART.

If we could just wrap our minds around this, reverence and respect and worship is what we bring to the relationship. It is God who brings the depth. It is God who brings the intimacy. It is God who WANTS to meet with you. Its God who wants to speak with you.

If we bring Him our respect for who He is and humble ourselves in reverence to all that He is.

Its like this, someone I know has the chance to meet Mike Rowe. Think of him what you will, I have been a fan of his for years! I don’t think I missed an episode of Dirty Jobs on Discovery.

IF, I could try to get this friend to talk me along to meet him and IF I got a chance to meet Mr Rowe, I could not force him to want to be my friend. He might shake my hand and be friendly, but in order for us to have a close personal relationship, he would have to be willing to meet and get to know me.

Now, one extreme for me would be to be too afraid to even approach him. Too afraid to go meet him. Too afraid to even give it a shot.

The other extreme would be to go up to him like I would my best friend. Go up and force him to hug me and hold his hand and talk about our plans together that afternoon. I could reach into his pocket and grab his phone and start scrolling through his text messages.

So, I am in no way putting Mike Rowe on the level of God or bring God down to the level of Mike Rowe, but you can see my point.

If we approach God with the reverence and respect that He desires, if we humble ourselves before His greatness and power, if we submit ourselves to the King of kings, He will respond with an intimate and personal relationship.

As we move into the second set of verses, 12-17, we get to see the beauty and depth of this relationship.

This is a beautiful prayer and communion with God. Look at the level of intimacy and depth of relationship that is possible with God.

Read verses 12-17.

So, in verses 12-13 we see that Moses is making a few request of the Lord.

He says, I’m trying to obey you and what you asked me to do, but he feels like he is alone. He feels like he needs a guide or someone to go with him to help him guide and lead the people that God has called him to lead. He quotes God in saying that He knows him by name and has found favor in Him.

He asks the Lord to show him His ways that I might know you!

Think about that statement. Moses talking to God face to face still feels like he doesn’t know all that there is to know about God. He is asking to know Him more. This is the OT definition of “know”, it is to have experiential knowledge of who He is. Not just head knowledge or book knowledge. Moses is saying, I want to experience your and who you are more. He is saying show me your ways. Show me who you are. I want to have favor in your sight. I want to please you. So, show me who you are.

Is this not the prayer that we have been praying? Is this not the focus of this study? Is this not the key to stop focusing on the crud going on around us in this world? Get along with God in deep respect for who He is and let Him meet you in a intimate relationship and then ask Him to know Him more.

There is no end to Him. The more we understand who He is the more richly we will experience His presence!

Moses makes the request of God, send me help to be all that you have called me to be, I want to know you, I want to find favor in your sight. How can you help me with these request?

The Lord response is simple yet..... everything.

He says, I’ll give you my presence. He says, you want to have experiential knowledge of who I am. Here is my presence.

It may seem like a non-answer to the specifics of his questions but its not!

The presence of God truly is the answer to all of our questions for Him.

We are wondering through this life without direction, His presence is the answer to finding direction.

We are struggling to be all that He has called us to be and need help, His presence is the answer to our request for help.

We aren’t really sure we have a proper view of God and want to know Him more truly, His presence is the answer that search.

We desire to please Him with our lives and are wanting to know how we can do that with our lives, His presence is the answer!

God says, my presence will go with you and be all that you need.

AND! I will give you rest.

What a beautiful God who responds to our intentional reverence for Him with the intimate answer to all of our request, His presence. And with Him, He brings His rest.

Why would we turn anywhere else? Why would we go anywhere without Him? Why would you want to leave His presence?

Moses responds with that same feeling. The NLT says, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.”

He is saying, I don’t want to go anywhere without you. You are the answers, You are the guidance, You are all that I need, Your presence is everything.

The more you intentionally meet with the Lord and the more that He shows you who He is the less time you are going to want to spend apart from Him. His presence is so satisfying and peaceful, the more you see His ways and know who He is, the more richly you experience His presence, the more time you want to be with Him.

The more time you spend in His presence, you better you will understand how your soul could long for Him like a deer panting for water.

God responds in verse 17 that He hears Moses request and will answer them. He tells him that he does find favor in His sight. God tells Moses, I know your name. I know who you are. I know everything about you.

David must have written Psalm 139 with this type of relationship with God.

Read Psalm

Try to grasp this level of intimacy with God. Try to wrap your head around this kind of relationship is possible. Try to open yourself to put your faith in the Word of God that God wants to have this kind of deep intimate relationship with you. You are not too far gone. You are not unable to find Him. This is possible for each of us.

I hear the skeptics and cynicism in your minds. I hear the thoughts that, well, that was Moses. I’m not Moses.

You want to hear the most unbelievable part of this story in Exodus? It says that after Moses spent this deep personal time with God, that his face shown radiating with the glory of God.

That cynical mind is saying, not possible for me. There is no way. I’m not Moses.

2 Corinthians 3:4–11 ESV

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

The glory that Moses stood in and reflects in not close to the glory that you and I can reflect now! We are ministers of a new covenant, not through the law which brought death but through the Holy Spirit which brings LIFE!

We can know God greater and closer than Moses did because of the intimacy of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. His ability to know us hasn’t changed but our ability to know Him and know His glory has vastly increased because the vail was torn. The wall of hostility that our sin brought was demolished by Jesus and know we can be made one with God through one Spirit.

And His Spirit is the perpetual, presence of God with us always! We have the ability to walk in the powerful, presence of God. All of our needs can be met, all of our request can be answered in His presence.

He is the powerful everlasting God who also cradles His sheep.

My prayer is that you would grasp and believe this truth.

My prayer is that you will begin to see how blessed we are to have His Holy Spirit.

My prayer is that you would approach your relationship with the reverence that He deserves while at the same time putting your faith in the truth that He is within you and want you to know His presence, the answer to all of your questions and request.

Our God is an intimate, all-powerful God. He knows you, and He desires to be known by you.

Will you get away from the distractions and be intentional about meeting with the Lord?

Would you be willing to echo Moses’ prayer and tell God that you are struggling to be all that He has called you to be?

Would you call out to God and ask Him to show you His ways so that you may know Him?

Will you trust that in His presence is the answer to all of your needs and true rest?