God Speaking

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”

(Hebrews 4: 16 K.J.V.)

For a whole year our Home Group has been travelling through the book of Exodus with Moses and the children of Israel. We mistakenly thought at first, that it was a fascinating history lesson, but as we progressed the gems of wisdom, the deepening of our spiritual lives and the amazing insights we gained by studying God’s word, has resulted in a new awareness of who we are.

One such gem of wisdom was hidden in the passage we read this week. The children of Israel have disobeyed God by making a golden calf and worshiping it in front of God’s altar. God is angry with them and at first decides to destroy then, but then decides to remove his presence from them. The eye opening moment for us readers came in the startling boldness of Moses’ plea. Moses boldly asks God to forgive them and then with audacity asks God to change his mind, to not take away his presence from them, realising that only this mighty presence distinguishes them from everybody else.

“…What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33: 16)

What a wonderful message for us in our present day. How would we like to be distinguished in our present society? It made us all think of what distinguishes people from one another; wealth/power/beauty/race/culture. The thought awakened in us all the desire, just like Moses, that we would want always the amazing presence of our Lord to be obvious in our actions to distinguish us.

God is pleased by Moses’ words. Another good pointer for us is, that we can be very direct when we are communicating with him.

“And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33: 17)

We were all startled by the audacity of Moses’ next request;

“Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” (Exodus 33: 18)

Moses wanted a more intimate relationship with God, He wanted to know him in a real way. He wanted to take that knowledge with him so that he would certainly be distinguishable as belonging to him. He wanted to represent him always wherever he went.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that we too can be confident in our approach to the Lord. We don’t need to be hesitant in presenting our requests to him. We can boldly ask to be shown his glory. The Psalmists frequently asked to be shown God’s way and to be taught his paths.

Pray Boldly!

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25: 4)