Note: this is unedited because I just really felt the need to share this immediately. I may or may not edit this in the future.
*these are mostly just highlights from the commentary website Enduringword.com. There are also some notes but thats js me yapping.
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Exodus 33
"Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.""
Exodus 33:3 ESV
This was a challenge to Moses and the nation as a whole. God told them they could have the Promised Land, but He would not remain with them in a close, personal way. If they were satisfied with that arrangement, it would prove they only loved God's blessings and not God Himself. If they challenged God – pleading with Him for His presence, not only His blessings – it would show a genuine heart for God Himself. This was the first step towards spiritual restoration and revival in Israel.
-enduringword.com
Presence>>>blessings 🙌‼️
"And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door."
Exodus 33:10 ESV
And all the people rose and worshipped: This was their natural response. Something about Moses and his relationship with God made others want to also worship God.
-enduringword.com
I want and need my relationship with God to be so strong that it impacts others in a good way
"Moses said to the Lord, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.""
Exodus 33:12-13
a. But You have not let me know whom You will send with me: For Moses, it wasn't enough to know that he and Israel would make it to the Promised Land. In his estimation, the Promised Land was nothing special without the special presence of the LORD. God previously promised to send an angel with Israel (Exodus 33:2). Moses pressed God on this point, wanting to know exactly whom God would send.
i. "Moses is now concerned to obtain both a guarantee of that presence for his people, and also the enjoyment of a closer experience of it for himself." (Cole)
ii. This was bold – almost rude – drawing near to God. Moses was determined to have God's presence with Israel as close as possible. This was the next step towards revival and restoration of Israel's relationship with God.
b. If I have found grace in Your sight: Moses was bold in drawing near to God, but he based the boldness on the grace God had already shown to him. This was a good ground for drawing near.
c. Your sight... Your way, that I may know You... grace in Your sight... Your people: Moses was almost obsessed with God. He was still on earth, but he connected everything to God in heaven.
i. Another strong theme in this section is to know. In some form, the word is used repeatedly in these verses. In the sense of relationship, God knew Israel and Moses, and Moses wanted to know God.
-enduringword.com
My jaw has dropped. Im in awe rn.
I need this. Like im feeling called to go deeper in my relationship with God and im wanting to do that not just today, but everyday. I don't want this to be a one time thing. I want this to continue everyday. I want His presence everyday and to just be with Him. Im feeling called to use any free time i have in the future to just spend time with Him and speak with Him.
Whats really hitting me hard is when it says Moses wanted His presence not just the blessing. He didn't want the blessings without the presence like woah.
This is literally my main purpose in life, to just be in relationship with God (and with others ofc)
"And the Lord said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The Lord.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.""
Exodus 33:17-20 ESV
a. Please, show me Your glory: Moses won a "yes" answer from God when he asked for the special presence of God to remain with Israel on the way to the Promised Land (Exodus 33:12-17). He also won a confirmation of the promise from God and an affirmation of close relationship. Yet he was still not satisfied. He wanted more in his personal relationship with God.
ii. This hunger for more of God – for more of an experience with God – is a mark of true revival and restoration of relationship. Whatever Moses had experienced with God, he now wanted more. "The more a man knows of God, the more desirous he is to know him." (Trapp)
b. Show me Your glory: This was an interesting request. Moses already saw something of the glory of God (Exodus 16:10 and 24:16-17), yet he wanted more. He sensed that he had not seen anything yet.
i. "Now Moses' prayer is to see the kabod, the manifested glory (literally 'weight') of YHWH." (Cole)
ii. "In other words, by revival we do not mean the Church being blessed by God, and conscious of his presence, and enabled to do his work. Moses, in a sense, was already conscious of all that . . . But Moses was not satisfied. And revival, I repeat, is not the Church being blessed and being conscious of God's presence, and being enabled to do her work. Revival goes beyond all that." (Lloyd-Jones)
a. I will make all My goodness pass before you: Moses asked to see the glory of God (Exodus 33:18), and God promised to show Moses His goodness. God's glory lies in His goodness. When Moses saw the glory of God, His first understanding was that God was good. If we don't know that God is good, we don't know much about Him at all.
i. God didn't reveal His justice to Moses, not His power, and not His wrath against sin. All those are truly aspects of God's nature, but when He showed Himself to Moses He displayed His goodness.
ii. Sometimes people think they must "balance" God, supposing there is something like a Yin and Yang to the universe, in the sense of light and dark, good and evil, law and grace. But God Himself is "unbalanced" in this sense. He is entirely good. Even His justice and power and wrath must be understood as aspects of His goodness.
b. I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you: In the thinking of the ancient Hebrews (and also in other ancient cultures), the name represented a person's character and nature. God promised to reveal His character to Moses, not merely a title.
i. Lloyd-Jones gives the idea of what God said to Moses: "I will stoop to your weakness. I will let you see something. But, much more important than that, I will cause all my goodness to pass before you. I will give you a deeper insight and understanding into myself, into my character, into what I am. That is what you really need to know."
-enduringword.com
I dont really understand that quote by Lloyd-jones.
Ugh it's difficult to resist temptations of wanting to indulge in the world. I want to just be in the presence of God but temptations to just go on my phone or do something else are also there. But i know that when i persist in pursuing God my relationship with Him gets deeper and I get closer to Him, so I'll do that.
Right now, just reading all of this, i feel so sinful and ashamed and guilty for wasting my time on the things of this world. Its like im seeing some of God's beauty and its just making me realize that He's all i really want and need.
Prayer: Lord, I pray that this realization wouldn't just be a fleeting feeling, but that it will be continuous. I pray that every day I would yearn for your presence and spend more time with you, worshipping you. Every day I wanna abide in you, and your word would remain in me, that it would remain written on the tablet of my heart. May your word be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Help me Jesus to be encouraged and motivated to live for you and walk with you. I bless your holy name, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
