EXODUS 33:1–4
They went to Aaron, the priest, and presented their jewelry, asking
EXODUS 33:12–18
 
Scripture speaks of God’s presence as being our safety, security and
strength.
 
His nearness is our good.
 
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is
fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm
16:11 (ESV, emphasis added)
According to the Scriptures, the way we move into a year marked by
safety, security and the fullness of joy, is by being in the presence of
God.  God was telling them He wanted them to go up and inherit the land
 
We need to ask God to change our hearts’ affection, to make us long
for and want His presence more in our lives.
 
The Israelites
 
The book of Exodus begins with the people of Israel in Egypt. They’ve
been there for about four hundred years and have been enslaved to
an evil pharaoh. God then raised up a man named Moses, who told
the Pharaoh, “Let my people go.”  They would also have peace. God would send an angel to drive out all
 The plague has happened; they’ve gone through the parted red sea
and have crossed over the wilderness. They’re on their way from
slavery to the promised land that God has said He would give them.
 
Then Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive from God the rules for
building the tabernacle, the portable church. It was the place where
the presence of God would go with the people. 
 The people had been waiting forty days down below. Complete chaos
broke out in the camp. The people weren’t sure what happened to
Moses, so they decided they needed a new leader, a new plan and a
new god.
 
for him to melt it all down and create a new god. He agreed to do so
and crafted a baby calf, presenting it to them as their new god.
  The people applauded and threw a huge party. When Moses
and Joshua were coming down from the mountain, Joshua told Moses
there was a war going on. They get closer and realize it’s not a war,
but rather a party.
  Moses was livid and God brought judgment on the people.
Three thousand people died. The wages of sin is death.
  On the tail end of that failure we reach chapter 33 where God
continues His promise to His people.
Exodus 33:1-4 (ESV)
 
promised to Abraham from Genesis 12. This was the land that had
been passed on from generation to generation. He wanted them to
finally be the generation to go up and inherit the land.
  It was good news for them. They would finally have property
and a place to call home. No longer would they be slaves in Egypt, but
would have a place that was their own. They wouldn’t be
impoverished anymore, but would live in a land flowing with milk and
honey (symbols of prosperity and abundance).
 
their enemies.
  A place to call their own, peace, prosperity; all the things
they’ve wanted.
  But there was a hitch.
 
Exodus 33:3-4 (ESV)
 God said He was going to give them peace, prosperity, property,
everything they had ever wanted, except not Himself. 
 Moses called it a disastrous word. To get everything they ever
wanted, but without God, would be a complete disaster.
 
They mourned. They took off their jewelry and laid it all down, saying
it all paled in comparison to God’s presence. They wanted His
presence to go with them. They didn’t just want all the things He
provided. They didn’t want peace, prosperity and property if God was
not there with them.  There are a million different ways that we define ourselves. We want
 
They wanted God Himself.
Certainly they wanted the things He provided, but not at the cost of
Him. They valued His presence with them as preeminent and the
most important thing.
 
God’s Presence as Preeminent
 
Exodus 33:12-16 (ESV)
 Moses was interceding before God for the people. He was telling God
it was His presence they wanted. They didn’t want to go if He didn’t
go.
 
Nothing else matters if God’s presence isn’t with us. All those
successes, the diplomas, the marriages, the raises and promotions,
none of it matter if God is not there with us.  We want to have value.
Our hope and prayer is that God would go before us and that we
would join Him in the actions that He’s already doing. We should say
that if His presence doesn’t go before us, then don’t send us. 
 
God is whom we should want.
Exodus 33:16 (ESV)
 
Moses was saying it was God’s presence that made them unique and
distinct. There was a value in God’s presence being among them.  It
was an issue of identity.
Our Identity
 
What makes you, you? What makes the Faith Christian Assembly of
God Church what it is? Who are we? What defines us?
 
to be known as the smartest, or the fastest or the wealthiest or the
prettiest. 
 
We judge these things as how they will create our identity. These
things will show that we’re worth something, that we’re valuable. We
are these things.
 
But Moses is saying that its God’s presence that should be our
identity. 
We spend so much energy, money, time, effort and stress trying to
create a sense of identity in order to feel valuable, important and
useful. We hope to find some latent potential that will be unlocked
from within us. Then we’ll all of a sudden go from being a nobody to a
somebody.
 
The good news is we don’t have to prove our identity by the things
we do or the way we look.
 
The Master Artist made you like you are. 
 
We have our identity in being image bearers of the King. Our value is
inherent and innate in us, because God is near to us and has created
us. You are called to be like Him and you have been given purpose.
 
All of our energy toward creating an identity can now be shifted
towards furthering and advancing His purposes in our lives.
That is what Moses was saying. If they went and got all of that stuff,
but didn’t have God, they wouldn’t really have an identity. They
would be just like all the other nations. 
 
But God made them unique and distinct.  bring us up from here. Exodus 33:15 (ESV)
My hope for us is that we would find our identity and joy in God’s
presence among us.  face. The face is the seat of someone’s emotions. It’s what shows
 
Let’s not spend our lives accumulating more, achieving more and
spending this year trying to prove ourselves worthy and valuable.
 
We shouldn’t define ourselves by our accomplishments, but on
Christ’s accomplishments and achievements.
 
Praying to Know Him More
 
How do we grow in the presence of God?
 
We want safety, security, joy, goodness and an establishment of our
identity in Him. But how do we get that?
 
Moses simply just asks God for it.
He prays two specific things:
• To know Him more.
• To see His glory.
To Know Him More
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me
now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your
sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” Exodus 33:13
(ESV, emphasis added)
 
Moses wanted to know God; His ways, the things He does, how He
acts and responds, likes and dislikes. He wanted to know Him more. 
 
15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not
He wanted to know His presence. The Hebrew word for presence is
whether the person is happy, sad, worried, stressed out. It’s the place
by which you know somebody. He wants God’s face to be with them.
 
Have you ever been in love? Fallen head over heels for somebody? 
 
Love begs for nearness. You will do whatever it takes to be close to
them. You will do crazy and dangerous things, to be near them.
 
That is what the incarnation of Jesus was. It is God drawing near to
us. That mission wasn’t safe, but He did it anyway. The Word became
flesh. So He could draw near to us. 
 
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth. John 1:14 (NASB)
The tabernacle is the place of God’s presence. Jesus became the
physical tabernacle, the presence of God who dwelt among the
people. 
To See His Glory
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” Exodus 33:18 (ESV)
 
Moses not only prayed that He wanted to know God, but he also
wanted to see His glory, His weight, and His significance. He wanted
to see the benefits of God and the beauty of God. He wanted to move
toward God for being God, for who He is.
 
How often do our prayers fall short of these requests? We pray for
things, for blessings, safety, provision. But how often do we pray to
know Him more and to see His glory? Yes, God is useful to us. His love
provides for all our prayers. But He’s also beautiful.
We need to see Him not just for what He can provide, but also for
who He is.
God responded to Moses saying he couldn’t see the fullness of His
glory or he would die. But He told him He would put him in a cleft of a
rock and walk past him.  Moses wouldn’t be able to see His face, but
could look at God’s back.
 
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a
God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and
the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And
Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and
worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O
Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked
people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your
inheritance.” Exodus 34:6-9 (ESV)
 
God told Moses He is eternally gracious, but He’s also righteously
just. 
Where these two things collide is at the cross of Jesus Christ. God’s
righteous justice was poured out for the sins of humanity. Jesus
absorbed that righteous anger. From that point, the grace of God is
now given to all that will believe. So that we will be in His presence
forever.
This is the hope we have. God’s goodness is seen in His grace and
justice colliding at the cross. The cross is where we see both the
benefit and the beauty of God fully on display.
 
Seek God’s Presence
As we move into the New Year, we want to tell God we absolutely
want the blessings, but not if it means that we lose Him.
Let’s ask Him that we would grow in our experience and expression of
His nearness. That is where our good and joy is found.
 
Let’s value His nearness. Let’s have His nearness be our preeminent
priority.
It is right and good to seek God for the answers to our
needs.  However out greatest need is not about earthly things, or
even the healing of our earthly bodies.  Our greatest need is to have
our hearts and souls flooded with God’s presence; to be flooded with
His grace, and His love, to know God, and to be known by Him.  When
we get enveloped in God’s presence, concern over things and
problems will melt away as we marinate in His glory.  There is no
substitute for God’s presence, but it doesn’t come without a cost.  We
must seek in order to find, we must knock in order for the door to be
opened. (Matt. 7:7)   There is no fast food version for
God’s presence, but it will be worth the time, effort, and the wait.