God Going with Us

The people of God have come to Mount Sinai. In Exodus 29, Moses is on the mountain with God. God is giving instructions about life, worship, and living in community with God. God is giving His people a very special insight to who He is and how He wants to walk with His people. As God makes plans, empowers individuals, and opens Himself up to intimacy, the very people He is in the process of blessing are turning away from God.

I have often thought that walking with God must have been so much easier for the people of Israel, especially at the time right after leaving Egypt. The evidence of God and His presence was so clear in that time. Each morning you woke up and walked outside to collect the day’s food. Food that God had left lying on the ground. No farming, no back-breaking tools. It would be like waking up to find a package on the doorstep with all of your meals for the day sitting right there. While collecting the food, the people could look up and see the presence of God on the mountain in the fire and the lightning. Or they could look at the pillar of cloud or fire. The tangible presence of God among His people. Bitter waters made clean and fresh. Memories of the not too distant victory of God over the Egyptian army. The dry ground of the Red Sea and the falling waters of God’s authority. There were the 10 plagues, each a lesson in the power of God. How could someone live at that time and not be absolutely committed to following God? Impossible! I would be so much more faithful, find it so much easier to believe and trust, if only I could see what those people saw. Experience what the Israelites experienced. I think. I mean, the sin of the people had nothing to do with their struggle with sin. Or did it? Am I more like them than I would care to imagine?

How clear is the presence of God? That becomes the question. Where do I see Him working and moving in the world and in my life today? Creation, the transformation of attitudes and lifestyles. The modern day miracles of birth, salvation, healing, protection, and provision. All of these are clear indications of God’s fingerprints in the lives of men. But if that is true, why do I struggle so much?

While God is making Himself known on the mountain, the people of Israel are looking for something more “tangible” to follow. Moses has been gone too long. They have become hardened to living in the presence of God. So they ask for something different. They demand something more satisfying. Something to meet a felt need. Aaron responds by calling for the gold of the people. He forms a calf and declares that this is their god! This shiny idol is the thing that led them out of Egypt. The attributes, the blessings, the power of God is declared to be in the works of men’s hands. We know that it is sin. Aaron will tell Moses that this is evil, even though he was the one who planned for the calf. Sin has caused the people to turn their eyes from the Creator and worship the created. Sin has caused them to invest their time, and gold in a dead presence. Sin has caused them to sing with joy over something they can see, while they turn a blind eye to tangible presence of God. Moses comes down the mountain and finds them worshiping. He throws down the tablets that God has given him on the mountain. The people have broken the covenant with God. Its shattered remains lie on the ground.

Now the people must see the results of sin. Death will walk among the people. They will taste the bitterness of their rebellion on the water they drink. They will suffer the pains of sickness. These are the results of sin. But more devastating is the anger that they have aroused in God. He is ready to leave them to their own choices. He will respect their desires to worship something else. They have chosen to live outside of the covenant and God will respect their choice. Even though it leads to death.

Here is a remarkable understanding of God. He allows us to choose. He tells us of the dangers. He shows us His love, compassion, and power. He showers us with grace and mercy. And He allows us to choose the path we will walk. God’s faithfulness in this moment is apparent in Exodus 33. He will keep His promise. He will conquer the land of Canaan with an angel. The people can go in and live in the Promised Land. But since they have chosen to live without God, God will not go into the land with them.

Moses comes and begs God to relent. Moses knows that God’s presence is the defining presence of His people. It is God who makes His people distinct. The character of God at work in the lives of men. It is God’s power which sustains, bringing victory, hope, and salvation. It is the relationship with God that provides all that His people need. So Moses begs God to turn away from His anger and go with His people.

That is the prayer I wish for you today. The understanding that we never want to walk in a place where God is not leading us. That we never choose to walk by ourselves. That we set aside the call of the world and the lure of idols. My prayer is that we embed a need and an awareness for God in every moment or our lives. That we walk, talk, listen, surrender and follow God in every moment.

As you embed the Bible this week, don’t miss the powerful pictures of sin, repentance, and the love of God. He is the same today. His presence is clear. He offers to go with us as we journey through life.