Bible Reading: Exodus 33:12-23
“Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight’. 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.” (Exodus 33:12-13)
Every person must ask this question to themselves, “Do I know God?”. Knowing God is different to knowing about God. One can study and read all the theological books in the world and still not know God. If you read all the books in the world about the Queen, you can claim to have knowledge about the Queen. But to know the Queen, you would need to sit down and have a chat with Her Majesty. Knowing a person is an experiential relationship. It is not theoretical analysis and speculation. How much more should this apply to knowing God? To know God is to have an experiential relationship with Him.
If we want to get real and actually know God, we need to ask the question, “Do I actually know God or do I know facts about God?”. If we grew up in a Christian home, we have been raised with knowledge about God floating around us. We claim them to be true. However, do we actually know God for ourselves?
If we seriously address this question in our lives, we will come to a crossroads like Moses. Moses had just been given the ten commandments and then discovered that Aaron and the Israelites had already forsaken God for a golden calf. As a result, God’s wrath came to His people, and many were killed by the sword at God’s command. Now, Moses was distraught. God had promised He would lead His people out of Egypt and into the promised land. Yet, due to their idolatry, God was now saying that He could only send an angel to lead Israel to the promised land, lest God consumes Israel with His wrath along the way. Was the God Jehovah the faithful God? Was He the true God who was truthful to His promises?
Similar to Moses, we may find ourselves questioning, “God says, ‘You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart’ (Jeremiah 29:13), but what happens if I genuinely seek Him and He doesn’t answer? Is my God the true and faithful God?” What do we do in these situations?
Moses begged for one thing, “Show me Your glory”. Moses asked to see God for who He really was. Moses asked for a personal and existential revelation of God in His own life. If we are ever to know God, it will first take God’s initiative to open up to us personally. Without Him, we are nothing and can do nothing.
God’s response to Moses was, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD’. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19). As sinners, asking to see God’s glory is like asking for death. If God revealed His Holiness, we would be smitten. Yet God shows mercy on whom He will show mercy. And our God who has chosen to show mercy to His elect children from eternity past will be faithful to His children.
When God’s Spirit prompts us to seek Him with all our heart, seek Him. His promises hold for His children, and those who seek Him will find Him. Those who come to Him will not be cast away. All His sheep will come to Him (see John 6:37).
Lord, show us Your glory. Have mercy on us, and let us get to know You personally. Do not let us be satisfied with knowledge about You. Stir in our hearts a burden to seek You wholeheartedly. May You work in all those who are Yours. May they come to know You as who You really are. In Jesus’ name, amen.