KNOWING GOD
Exodus 32 and 33
“If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
To a people who have been raised in Egypt, there is a multiplicity of gods and their presence is everywhere. Every god requires some kind of sacrifice and there were exuberant religious celebrations that included drinking and dancing in Egypt. It is not difficult to imagine these descendants of Abraham turning to familiar practices when they were wondering if Moses would ever come down from the mountain.
Clearly, for all their spectacular experiences, they did not know God to be good and faithful, and jealous, and that jealousy would be fatal to those who claim Him to be their God, who seek His Presence, if they should ever stray. So God suggested, “take what I promised to give you, but it is better that I not go with you because you don’t know how to walk with me.”
“Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
The modern church faces a slightly different problem. Jealousy is not a very acceptable word because it connotes self-centredness and a God who destroys because he is a jealous God does not sit well in our theology. However, when we lose this biblical truth (see Exodus 34:10-17), we lose the constraints of God’s character, and we indulge ourselves in His Name. The religious practices and values of the world influence us. We worship him in name, but not in spirit and in truth. We are not focused on learning and practising his ways and instead we do as we please, and we seek to attain the glory of the world in his name. We offer him sacrifices and gifts that we think are worthy of him (often gleaned from worldly practices), rather than seek humbly to do that which pleases him and glorifies him.
“Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you,” God tells the Israelites.
Moses sees the issue clearly. If the Jews were to enjoy God’s Presence and bear His Name, then they must learn His Ways in order to continue in His favour. Just gaining the Promised Land devoid of the Presence is meaningless but if there were to be Presence, then their lifestyle must reflect his glory. The glitter of the world means nothing to God.
What is the glory of God? God himself provides the answer: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
When you listen to Moses you will see in him a deep love for God and care for the concerns of God. Even when God proposes to destroy the people and make Moses to be a great nation instead, Moses argues that God should not allow his name to be sullied. Moses was not full of himself but full of God—and God deigned to call him friend.
How about you? Are you focused on your relationship with God or are your eyes focused on what God can do for you? The land or the Presence? The glitter or the Goodness? Your interests or His pleasure?
“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”