Exodus 33 is perhaps my most favorite chapter in the Old Testament. I love the interaction between Moses and Jehovah God. The people had sinned. God has said they could still have the Promised Land, but He would not go with them. He’d send an angel and they’d get the victory, but His Presence would be absent. That’s not going to cut it for Moses. He pretty much tells God that if God doesn’t go, he’s not going either.
God had acknowledged His favor of Moses, and Moses begins his exchange with God based on that favor. “You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.” [Ex 33:12-13 NKJV]
Think about that. Moses found grace in God’s sight. Because of that, Moses requests one thing—that he might know this God in whom He had found favor. Moses asks to know God’s way so that he might continue to find grace with God.
We, too, have found grace with God. The New Testament is full of references to the grace (favor) in which we now stand. Paul made it clear in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
So, based on God’s favor, what are our requests? Are we, like Moses, asking to know God’s way in order that we might continue to find favor with Him? Or are we hoping to take advantage of God’s favor to satisfy our own agendas?
For the record, God’s response to Moses’ request … “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” [v14]
Is that not what we all want?
