Exodus 33:20-23 You cannot see My face!

20But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”

21The LORD continued, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock, 22and when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

“But at the same time he assures him that he could not see his face-the fulness of his perfections and the grandeur of his designs, and live, as no human being could bear, in the present state, this full discovery. But he adds, Thou shalt see my back parts.” (Clarke)

Remember this hymn?

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/1058

Do you remember the movie The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston? I recall the scene when Moses came down the mountain after seeing the Lord, his face was changed, bright and his hair turned gray. Later we read in the Bible, Moses had to cover his face with a veil.

I can’t wait to see Jesus face to face!

Can you?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 33:18-19 ❤️ Felt Request!

18Then Moses requested, “Please, let me see the dazzling light of your presence.”

19 The Lord answered, “I will make all my splendor pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name. I am the Lord, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose.

“dazzling light of your presence”! 

Isn’t that an amazing way Moses worded his request?

And the Lord honors his heart ❤️ felt request! 

He wants to honor your requests too but they are according to His will, His timing and your heart condition.

Moses had a heart for the Israelites, he had just previously pleaded for them before the Lord.

1 Samuel 16: 7But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

Lay your heart open before the Lord and talk to Him, He wants you to talk to Him just as Moses did.

Blessings, David 

Exodus 33:14-17 I know you by name!

14And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15“If Your Presence does not go with us,” Moses replied, “do not lead us up from here. 16For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

Moses pressed the Lord for assurance so that all the people of the earth would know the Israelites were the Lords people!

The people of the earth were mocking them, jeering at them and wanted to destroy them! Sound familiar? Has anything changed today? Several nations today chant death to Israel!

Number 24: 9 The nation is like a mighty lion;

When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it.

Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed,

And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.” GNT

“you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

The Lord knows you by name too! 

Do you believe that?

Blessings, David

Exodus 33:12-13 Pleading for His (Your) People!

12Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ 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 found favor in My sight.’ 13Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”

“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)

Moses wanted a closer relationship with the Lord and he was also pleading for His people.

Have you ever pleaded to the Lord for your people? Prayed for a son, daughter, spouse or yourself?

Have you found favor in His sight?

I thank Him daily for His blessings, it’s easy to do.

It goes like this, thank you Lord for your blessings, thank you for this food, our home, my wife, our marriage, our love for each other, our dog, our finances etc. 

It’s easy to look at the negative in our lives, instead look at the positives, your blessings. Don’t be surprised when you start thanking Him for His blessings in you life that He blesses you more!

Blessings, David

Exodus 33:7-11 Tent of Meeting-Church

7Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it at a distance outside the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting, and anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. 8Then, whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand at the entrances to their own tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent. 9As Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance, and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up and worship, each one at the entrance to his own tent.

11Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun would not leave the tent.

“When the Holy Spirit of God begins to deal with any one of us, there will be this separation. It will not be paraded, it will not be the Pharisees’ ‘I am holier than thou’ attitude. No, once a man begins to be burdened for the glory of God and the state of the Church, he immediately feels the call to consecration, he ‘goes out’ as it were.” (Lloyd-Jones)

This was the early church as it were, worship and giving thanks be to God. It’s basically no different than how church is celebrated today, we stand and worship for the reading of scripture when our pastor or preacher is on stage or when the worship team is singing hymns to the Lord.

In our troubled times with the Chinese Coronavirus engulfing the world we can still participate in church by watching online, streaming on the computer or watching it on television while we are sheltered in our homes.

Please pray for the pandemic to end quickly, for those stricken, for our first responders, doctors and nurses, our president and his staff and our economy to start up soon. Pray we don’t have a great depression.

Pray, pray and pray some more!

Blessings, David 

Exodus 33:4-6 Mourning and Jewelry!

4When the people heard these bad tidings, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry. 5For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’”

6So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

They went into mourning because?

Think about that for a minute. When Moses was atop the mountain with the Lord they strayed from the Lord and when the Lord says, “If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you.”, they mourn!

Could their sense of mourning be because the Lord considered destroying them or because He was going to leave them?

”So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry”

What does the Bible say about wearing jewelry?

Searching the subject I found this article from gotquestions.org

https://www.gotquestions.org/women-makeup.html

The Lord looks at our inward beauty of the heart, people judge by outward appearance and beauty. 

Excessive jewelry indicates a heart issue which is why the Lord said,

“Now take off your jewelry”.

Pray for the Lord to help us look toward the inward beauty of people, not outward appearance and beauty.

Blessings, David 

Exodus 33:1-3 Stiff-Necked People!

1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

“To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.” (Lloyd-Jones)

How would we feel if God told us we still had the promise of salvation but He would not be with us because we are a stiff-necked people?

In a sense it can happen if we quench the Holy Spirit in us by continually sinning.

“Both quenching and grieving the Spirit are similar in their effects. Both hinder a godly lifestyle.”

Are you quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit?

https://www.gotquestions.org/grieve-quench-Holy-Spirit.html

Blessings, David