GOD WITH US
Exodus 33: 12-23
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does
not go with us, do not send us up from here. (Exodus 33:15)
Exodus
chapter 33 discusses God instructing Moses to provide leadership to the
Israelites in their journey from Sinai to the Promised Land. The people have
doubts and questions but God guides Moses every step of the way. It is a
journey based on faith alone. The
popular image of God is an absolutist one: God is unchanging, omnipotent, all
knowing, beyond human comprehension. While this image of God is a legitimate
and indeed, Biblical one, today’s passage reveals another aspect of God - a
God that is immanent, a God “who moves with us” and a God who has taken up His
dwelling in our midst. God is
accessible; He is “an ever-present help in trouble” (Ps. 46: 1).
God in
Dialogue: Moses demonstrates that the God who is
immanent is also negotiable, persuadable. In today’s passage, we see Moses in
dialogue with God: (“Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your
ways”). As Martha Greene puts it, "As I read the dialogue between Moses
and Yahweh in the Hebrew scripture, I envy Moses' intimacy with the Holy One.
It is an intimacy that is rare for believers today." When God ceases to
be an abstract entity and becomes a living reality, it would be possible for
us to enter into a personal relationship with Him and to be in dialogue with
the Almighty.
The Face of
God: Despite all the intimacy between God and
Moses, today’s passage also depicts a God who keeps His distance with the
human beings. When Moses demands proof for God’s favor towards him, God agrees
to reveal His glory but cautions Moses that Yahweh’s face will forever remain
hidden. The Israelites’ infidelity and betrayal had created a gulf between them
and the Almighty. “The Golden Calf” (discussed in the previous chapter) had
completed the betrayal. Walter Brueggemann reminds us that we are blinded by
"commodity fetishes" and therefore, the primary condition for us to
re-enter into a relationship with God and experience his presence is the
"stripping of ornaments”.
When Yahweh hid His face from Moses, a void is
created. We too go through periods of life when we fear that God has withdrawn
His presence from our midst. We feel an emptiness and we cry out: “My God, why
have you forsaken me?” During such empty moments, if we pause and reflect on
how God’s faithfulness had guided us in the past, the vision of endless
possibilities will unfold before us. Christian life is indeed a leap of faith.
We do not first see, then act: we act and then see.
Prayer: Lord, help us to experience your ever-abiding
presence in our life journey. Amen.
Jesudas
Athyal, Carmel MTC,Boston