January 31: Exodus 32-34

January 31: Exodus 32-34

 

~Exodus 33:18-23~
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.
Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

~Matthew 7:7-8~
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

~Exodus 34:29~
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.  

 

~2 Corinthians 5:17~
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Two things that stood out to me in today's reading:
(1) If we sincerely ask God to reveal Himself to us, He will.

(2) Once we encounter God, we will never be the same.

There have been times in my life where I felt like God was far away from me. I wondered where He was and if He cared about me. The truth is that God never moves away from us. If He feels distant, it's because we did the moving. God desires to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know Him and share all of ourselves with Him. Moses wanted nothing more than to see God's glory. The fact that no one could see God's face and live did not hinder him at all. We can certainly learn from Moses on how to have a deeper relationship with God: all you have to do is ask.

 

After Moses's experience with God, he was visibly changed. The Israelites noticed immediately that his face had become radiant. When we encounter God, we are not physically changed, but we do become different people. When we share our lives with Him and invite Him to live in our hearts, we are new creations that are drastically different from our former selves.

 

God wants to show Himself to us and He wants to make us new creations in Him. If you feel like God is far away or if you feel like the same old person you were before, I encourage you to ask Him to show you His glory and to change you for the better. I guarantee that He will.