In Exodus 33, Moses asked God to let him actually see Him. Here was God’s Answer:
And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. “So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. “Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
Before that, Moses stood before the Pharaoh and told him to let God’s people leave Egypt. Why? Because God told him too. Moses led the people through the parted Red Sea. Why? Because that is what God said to do. Moses feats were amazing, but until Exodus 33, he had never seen God. He heard God’s word and that was enough.
“If I were Moses,” someone might think, “I would do what he did.” Moses had flaws. He killed an Egyptian. In his fear he ran from Egypt and the people of God. He made excuses why he could not lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.
However, in the end, hearing only the voice of God, knowing his words, he did what God told him to do. He started his obedience to the word long before he ever saw God. He knew only God’s word.
We can be like Moses. He listened when God spoke from a burning bush. We can listen when God speaks through his written word. If we do, then someday we will all see God.
Job foretold that wonderful day in Job 19:26-27. He said,
“After my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
And then he ended with these words, “How my heart yearns within me!”
Me too.
Lonnie Davis