David Bahn – Reflections

The Story – Chapter 5 (New Commands and a New Covenant) – Exodus 33

Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 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.” 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.

The idea of God revealing himself to Moses – but only his backside – has always intrigued me. There is the matter of the significant anthropomorphism (Does God really have a backside?). There is also the idea that God could pass by – or at least God’s glory could pass by – and that God would allow himself to be seen by Moses. I realize that we cannot see God’s face and live; and that is to me a fascinating and important thought.

More significant than these things is that God realizes that in order for Moses to do the work he is to do, he will need an especially significant encounter with God. Moses, for his part, realizes that without God’s presence the work to which God had called him would be futile. He also realizes that he is serving God’s cause, and not pursuing his own agenda. The two go together.

It is easy to lose sight of the reality that the mission, the church, the success, the impact of the Kingdom of God is God’s work and doing. I regularly seek to express that idea. I speak of the Mission of God. I talk and pray about being part of God’s kingdom’s coming into the heart of people – beginning with my own heart. I seek consciously and intentionally to bring glory to God by pursuing his goal. I truly believe that nobody can make a wave; that’s God’s job. We may be able to ride a wave, but God makes them.

So whenever God does allow his glory to be seen we can truly rejoice, and seek to run on that strength for forty days (cf. 1 Kings 19:8). We see the fullest picture of God’s glory when we see his grace reach into a heart of someone and bring them to faith. We see his glory when enemies are reconciled. We see God’s glory when the arrogant become repentant. We see God’s glory when we are moved to love the unlovable. We see God’s glory when a lost person finds joy in Christ. Whenever we see God’s glory in these ways, we have tasted but a morsel of the goodness of God, and seen only the faintest reflection of God’s ultimate glory. And realizing that we must reflect that same glory so that others may see even just the backside of God.