Exodus 33-35

New tablets to replace the old, directions on what to build and how to use it, and a command to go to the Promised Land.   But no one is moving…why?
Moses had received from God all the information that he needed, as well as the command to pack up the tents and begin the journey to the Promised Land.   Yet, he was reluctant to leave the dusty, barren scrap of land that the entire nation was perched on.   Was he crazy?
 
No, not really.   You see, God told Moses to go, but He said that He wasn’t going to travel with them.  I can understand, really.  The people hadn’t been out of Egypt barely 3 months and they were right back to their old habits.   We all know people like this, no matter how much you help them they never seem to break out of their dysfunction.  If you lend them a helping hand, they use it to dig themselves deeper.
 
No wonder God doesn’t want to travel with them.   I don’t even know them and I don’t want too either.
 
But Moses is a different type of character.   People with his mindset are rare.  Moses cares enough about the people that he “drags his feet” and pleads with God.  I love the picture of Moses pleading with God to change His mind because it proves that God’s mind can be changed.  Even when the decree from heaven is for punishment or worse yet, abandonment…there is still hope!     Moses asks God for only one thing, and that is to know Him more personally.   I think a man in Moses’ position would have many ideas about what to ask God for…resources, power, wisdom and so on..   But Moses wants only to know God better.   This is the real genius behind Moses’ leadership, he wasn’t trying to lead or impress the people….and he wasn’t trying to impress or negotiate with God.   Think of it, Moses doesn’t offer God any alternatives or promises of what he will do if God chooses to change His mind.   This is not negotiation…Moses will do whatever God commands, but here he is simply begging the One Who Has All Power to soften His position.    And God is very pleased with that, and so He does.
 
We could probably spend a great deal of time discussing the significance and importance of the items of furniture, or the failure of the people to remain obedient by refusing to make treaties.  We could talk of how the yeast is removed because it will later be used to represent sin.   But instead focus on the one most important thing in this whole passage.
 
None of this would be possible unless someone cast off all other desires and sought after God with his whole heart.   Nothing distracted Moses from his desire to see God plainly.   When the Lord looked at him, He knew that Moses was sincere, and only wanted to know God better, so that He could represent Him better to the people and the world.    
 
It’s all about relationship.   God’s greatest wish for you isn’t to fill you with the power to do miracles so that you can impress others.   He doesn’t need that.   His greatest wish for you is that you would know Him better.   If you would make this your prayer, and while you are at it, pray that God will give you the strength to comply with whatever He commands, then you experience His fullness in ways that the world rarely sees, and your life will be filled with purpose, meaning and significance.
 
This is my prayer for me.  I hope that you choose to pray it as well.
 
Faithfully,
 
PR