God of Deliverance

And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here”. Exodus 33:15

Throughout the book of Exodus, the LORD spoke clearly to Moses about what he should do. Although Moses initially resisted and asked God to send his brother in his place before Pharaoh, he ultimately submitted to the Lord. Anyone who has read Exodus can attest that this submission to God’s will was not the beginning of a “happily ever after” story. Moses’ journey leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land was arduous and filled with difficulty and repeated moments of complete surrender to the Lord’s will. Yet through it all, Moses trusted God, and his actions displayed his dependence on God’s deliverance. The same cannot be said of most of the Israelites, who grumbled and complained along the way. They seemed to abandon their faith at the earliest inconvenience. They struggled to be patient and wait on the Lord. They would receive a blessing, and before the day had even ended, they were complaining and doubting the God who had delivered them. Toward the end of their journey, Moses told the Lord that he did not want to enter the Promised Land if the Lord’s presence did not go with him. What a powerful statement. Moses was saying that without the Lord’s presence, he did not want the blessing. He chose to seek God’s face before seeking His provision. What a beautiful picture of how Christians today are called to live, seeking His face and His presence above any answered prayer, trusting and knowing that we serve the same God of deliverance today. Praise be to Him who is worthy!