God-Glory Moments

Suggested Bible Reading: Exodus 33:12-23

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
 Exodus 33:14

Moses had not easily accepted his responsibility. Picked by God from his birth, for a destiny he never imagined, Moses knew first hand the range of emotions and experiences that result from obeying God. Initially there had been heart stopping, God-glory moments when he and the other Israelites first escaped Egypt. But as the days and weeks passed, the unending desert vistas began to take their toll. Now, Moses chosen by God for a task which seemed to highlight his inadequacies, heard daily, thousands of whining and complaining voices.

Moses talks to God, doing his own bit of whining and complaining. In the middle, however, of Moses’ “further mores” God stops him, assuring him of his presence. It isn’t a promise of rescue from the difficulties or a commitment to making it all better, just a promise that God is in the desert.

Despite all that Moses had seen of God’s glory in the desert, when it got tough he needed assurance that God was still there. God doesn’t scold but gives Moses a God-glory encounter like he has never experienced.

It’s this God that goes with us every day, even when we feel he his distant. It is perhaps in those most desperate of times that we hear his voice most keenly, because in our questioning, and our heart’s desire to know, we listen more intently.

Thought of the day: What God-glory moment have I experienced?

Help me to know your presence every day.
When my day is dry, lead me to water.
When I am weary, help me hear, “I will give you rest.”Amen.