Sometimes when I read a passage of scripture my attention is caught by just one verse. Today we have 44 verses and the one that jumped out at me is 33:14. “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” We know that Moses had been dealing with a very difficult situation. He’d come down from the mountain to find that his brother, who he’d left in charge, had cast a golden calf that the people were now worshipping. The whole nation had descended into some seriously unholy forms of worship and had completely abandoned their true God. What Moses needed was God’s assurance that he had His support. So God says, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

I don’t think it really matters what we’re doing in life, whether we’re leading a nation, a congregation, ploughing a field or driving a truck, if we know we have God on our side we can do what we’re called to do with absolute confidence in the knowledge that we carry God’s presence into every situation or set of circumstances that we might encounter. If we really know who our God is we know that He is a God of peace (YHWH-Shalom), He is the God of power and majesty (YHWH-Niss"i), He is the God who provides (YHWH-Yireh), He is the God who heals (YHWH-Rapha) and He is the God who leads us (YHWH-Ra-ah). So of course Moses wanted to know he had God’s presence with him. He knew the scale of the undertaking he was engaged with and he knew from his very recent experience that the job was going to be taxing to say the very least.

I love that Moses’ relationship with God was so strong that he felt able to say “Now show me Your glory” (33:18). Every fibre of my being says the same thing – Lord please show us Your glory. Please show us what it looks like to dwell in your magnificent presence. Let us see what it looks like to walk in the power that only You can pour out! And He did all of that for us in the person of Jesus and then He sent the Holy Spirit so that we could be filled with that same presence. Acts 2:4 “And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” More Lord!!

* * *

Father God, please pour Your Holy Spirit out upon us today. Show us Your glory and Your power in all we do. Amen.