Exodus 33 today. A chapter virtually unrivaled in the OT. God tells Moses He’ll keep His word. He’ll send them forth to the land flowing with milk & honey. He’ll place an angel ahead of them to drive out their enemies. He’ll do every single thing He promised. But He’s not going.
More theology - more insight, wisdom, direction & understanding of God - is packed into the response of Moses than we could teach, tell or preach on our own in a lifetime: “If Your presence does not go, do not make us go.” No amount of success can make up for God’s absence.
No goal fulfilled can assuage the hollow soul of a human who once savored the divine presence. Nothing is worth it. At the end of Deuteronomy, we find these words: “No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face-to-face. He was unparalleled...” (CSB)
We could look to no one in the OT who’d known God more intimately or within closer proximity. Flip to the NT to those who’d been in closest proximity to the Word made flesh, tabernacled among them. “What was He like?” we’d ask. “Like no one & nothing else,” they’d surely say.
Worth everything. Their 1 aim in all of life was serving in His name until they once again saw His face. There is a man I’ve watched from afar for years who once wrote lyrics that betrayed such nearness to Jesus. He has since left the faith for a kind of universalism. I ask you
please not to guess who it might’ve been. You’d miss the whole point of the thread. It could be any of us. I have been so sure and even told his friends that he’d be back. I said over and over again, “you cannot know Jesus that intimately & bear life at a distance indefinitely.”
I may be wrong. It may be that he never knew Jesus at all. He just knew good lyrics. Or it may be that he can indeed bear distance indefinitely. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. But I can’t wrap my mind around it. Because, I’ll tell you, Loved of God. I’ve known no few
experiences. I’ve known failure & success & failure & success & failure & success. I’ve known the love of a handsome man. I’ve known deep friendships. I’ve known what it’s like to have both a little & a lot. I’ve traveled much of the world. But I can testify to my last breath -
and will - that nothing & no one is like Jesus. I’d give it all up just for him. There’s nowhere we ever want to be that he could not fully bless us with his active presence. Of course he’s promised never to leave or forsake us. We’re secure in our salvation. But make no mistake,
we can quench his Spirit. Fellow believers, it was never meant to be that our denominations would distinguish us. Or our politics. 1 thing makes us different from the rest of this world. JESUS. The remarkable mark of His presence upon our lives, affections and our actions. Jesus.
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