God’s Presence Is What We Need (Exodus 33:7-23)

Bible Passage: Exodus 33:7-23

The story of Exodus is a story about God’s presence with his people. When the Israelites were set free from slavery, the purpose was that they may worship God in the wilderness. Once they had been freed, the focus pivots to the construction of the tabernacle, in which the presence of God would quite literally dwell in the midst of the people. Here in this chapter, we are given an insight into the experiences that Moses himself had with God’s presence.

God’s Presence In Prayer: The scene opens in a place known as the ‘tent of meeting’, a tent that had been constructed outside of the camp for anyone who wished to enquire of God. When Moses himself used the tent, we are told of the presence of God meeting with him in a particularly tangible way, as the pillar of cloud descended on the place. As this happened, Moses spoke to God, and this is described as ‘face to face, as one speaks with a friend’. Sometimes we think of God’s presence in terms of thunder and fire, and there are moments where this is true, but here we see the gentle tenderness of God drawing close in friendship. Through Christ we have been drawn close to God and called his friends (see John 15:15). We are able to enjoy the same intimacy with God that we see modelled by Moses here in this passage.

God’s Presence Is Enough: The conversation between the Lord and Moses turns to the topic of leading the people into the land. Just like earlier in the story when he had been asked to confront Pharaoh, Moses asked God to provide somebody to help him, but this time God’s response is to promise his own presence, and Moses recognises that this is enough. In fact, he pleads with God not to send them at all unless his presence is with them. Moses has grown, and no longer is he looking for other people to lean on, but instead is looking to God. In a similar way to how God promised his presence to the Israelites as they entered the land, so Jesus has promised his followers that he will be with us always, to the very end of the age. We have been sent out on his mission, but we go in his presence, and this presence is enough.

God’s Greater Presence to Come: Having received the promise from God to be with his people, Moses makes the audacious ask that God would show him his glory. This is the right desire, and we should similarly long to see God displaying his glory. The answer that Moses received was a partial one. God did show him something, and what he saw is more than most had seen. He experienced all of God’s goodness passing before him, but there was a limit to his experience, as he was not permitted to see God’s face. There is a degree to which God’s holy presence cannot come into contact with sinful humanity, and were God to expose Moses to this, he would die. As New Testament believers, we are in a different position to Moses. Though he could not see God because of sin, our sin has been completely taken by Christ, and so through the gospel we are able to see the glorious presence of the Lord with a much greater clarity than even Moses was permitted in this account.

Potential Applications:

• The passage emphasises Moses’s friendship with God in prayer, and this friendship is open to us too. There is an invitation to draw close in prayer and meet God in the quiet place as a friend.
• The passage encourages us to seek the manifest presence of God. As you move into a time or worship, invite the Spirit to come and make the presence of God known in your midst.
• Through Jesus we can know God and be called his friend too. Invite people to respond to the gospel and draw close to him.