I love the heroes of the Old Testament and one of my favorites is Moses. Exodus 33 is a chapter of Scripture I turn to often. The chapter, except for a small parenthetical passage in verses 7-11, is a conversation between Moses and God.
n the previous chapter the people of Israel convinced Aaron to make a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain with God. God was ready to smite the entire camp but invited Moses to intercede for them, which he did. Chapter 33 opens with God’s pronouncement that while He will allow Israel to go the land that He promised their forefathers, He’s not going with them. Instead, He will send an angel to drive out the enemies before them.
Moses didn’t like that (if God wasn’t going, neither was he) and began to intercede once again with God. “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 favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” [NIV]
“If you are pleased with me, teach me . . . so I may know you.”
Repeatedly in the Gospels, each of the writers tells us that Jesus would gather His disciples along with the crowds and would teach them. [Matthew 5:1-2, Mark 2:13-14, Luke 4:31, John 7:14-15]
God desires to teach us. Jesus promised “when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you….” [John 14:26]
The only way we can know God is if He teaches us about Himself. Our part is to maintain a teachable spirit. Like Moses, let us invite the Lord to “teach [us] . . . so that [we] may know [Him].”
