"Show me now Your way!"

Exodus 33:13 (NKJV): "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight ..."

Exodus 33 is to be read and understood from the background of Exodus 32. Here, Moses was at a crucial point in his life and ministry, and in fact, he had come to the point where he didn't know how to go about any more!

So, what actually happened that led to Moses asking "Show me now Your way..."?

Let's now go back to Exodus 32. When the people saw that their leader Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together to Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." (Exodus 32:1). Aaron gave in, and there a molded calf was made (Exodus 32:4).

Then, the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'" (Exodus 32:7-8)

Later on, having seen how his own people were plagued because of what they did with the calf (Exodus 32:35) despite his attempt to intervene, he must have felt rather terrible. And it was at this point of heart-brokenness and helplessness that Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far away from the people, calling it the tabernacle of meeting (Exodus 33:7), to talk with God.

Moses then said, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.' Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." (Exodus 33:12-13)

And that's when the Lord answered him, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:14)

I used to wonder what does 'His way' have to do with 'His Presence'? Why did the Lord respond with "My Presence will go with you" when Moses asked for 'His way'? I then found the answer in the Hebrew word for 'Presence' itself, pronounced as 'Paniym', which means 'face, countenance, forefront'. The Lord was actually telling Moses, "From now on, no more your face, but My face; no more your countenance (radiance), but My countenance (radiance) as you go on from here; and from now on, no more are you at the forefront, but I AM now your forefront that leads you on from here!"

Today, as a believer, know that the Lord has also shown you His Presence through His Son, Jesus Christ. In Him, you find your rest (Matthew 11:28), and in Him also, you find your Way, your Truth, and your Life! (John 14:6) As you rest in His Presence, that's when He'll also show you the way!

Moses then said, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." (Exodus 33:15)

People of God, His Presence in your life is the primary thing. Everything else comes second. When you have His Presence, you have everything, and that includes His way, His power, His wisdom, His favor, His peace, His joy, and the list goes on. As a believer, even though you know that He is already in you, it helps to be conscious of His Presence, to practice His Presence, and to linger (and stay) in His Presence moment by moment, day by day. Amen.

The Faithfulness of God

Psalm 92:2 (NKJV): To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.

Even in the darkest of hours, God's faithfulness to you still stay the same! You may have been taught to be faithful to God, and that's great, but today, God also wants you to know that He is faithful to you, and His faithfulness to you hasn't changed!

The Bible doesn't just say God is good to you (Psalm 34:8), but the Bible also says He is faithful to you (Psalm 92:2). It also means He is faithful towards all His promises for you! And because He is a covenant God, He is also faithful to the covenant He has made with you as a believer.

Not just that, He also doesn't bring you somewhere, or lead you out somewhere to suffer you or to bring you sorrow! (Proverbs 10:22)

Let's now go all the way back to Exodus 15:22-26, and back to Moses' days. Moses had just led the people out of the bondage of Egypt with great signs and wonders not long ago, and the Red Sea even opened up for them to cross over! But here they were in the wilderness, finding themselves three days with no water to drink! And even after they've found a pool of water (at Marah), it was useless, for they couldn't drink it (as it was bitter). You see, one can survive three days without food, but one may not survive three days without water! And that was the fact they had to face!

"What now, Moses? What are we going to drink now? If we don't have water for another day, we'll all die here!"

'Stuck' in the middle of nowhere, and worse still, with no water to drink, they probably have murmured all those words against Moses and even began doubting if all these 'coming-out-of-Egypt-thing' was really that worth it!

But as the people complained, Moses cried out to the Lord (Exodus 15:25). See the difference between Moses and the rest? When everyone else complained, Moses did not, but he learned to cry out to God and seek Him. Moses trusted that his God would not lead them out to suffer them! And at that time, when others thought God is no-where, Moses still believed God is now-here!

Moses also believed God's faithfulness (towards the people whom He had led out of Egypt) hasn't changed! If God could open the Red Sea when they were once at the dead-end, He could open the way for them one more time!

And that's when God showed him a tree (Exodus 15:25), and when he cast it into the (bitter) waters, the waters were made sweet, ready for the people to drink! Today, this tree is a 'picture' of the cross and all that Jesus has done for you on the cross. It's here that God can turn whatever that's 'bitter' and make it 'sweet' for you now. It's also here that He has carried all your curse, so that you can now have your 'well' of blessings.

People of God, whatever situation you are faced with right now, look to Him and trust Him. The God in Moses' days is the same God in you today! He hasn't changed. He is faithful to His words for you, and He will see to it that He will lead you on, so long as you don't give up or walk out on Him. You see, men may walk out on you, but God will not. The Bible says 'He will never leave you, nor forsake you' (Hebrews 13:5). His faithfulness towards His promises and plan for you stays the same, just as He had been in Moses' days.

Note: Throughout Israel's journey in the wilderness those days, He had always shown Himself faithful to His people. And even when many in Moses' days gave up or walked out on Him, His faithfulness towards His covenant and promises for them stayed the same. It was the people who walked out on God, not God who walked out on them! The truth is He has kept His word till the very end, and eventually led Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land. He is indeed a God of covenant and promises!

That's why the Bible says in Philippians 1:6 that 'He who has begun a good work in you will complete it (i.e. bring it to full completion) until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ'. Today, He wants you to know He is faithful towards all His promises for you, and not just that, He will also be faithful to you till the very end. Receive. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Blessing of the Lord makes you rich

Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV): The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

The word 'rich' here is 'ashar' in Hebrew, which can mean 'to grow in richness, to make rich, or to cause you to be rich'. In other words, God's blessing in your life causes you to be rich! Here, I'm not just talking about being rich in finance. The blessing of the Lord makes you rich in every good thing, and this good thing can be in health, in wisdom, in revelation, in favor, etc!

2 Corinthians 8:9 says 'though He (Jesus) was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich'. Here, you see a great exchange happened when Jesus died for you on the cross. In fact, He literally lost everything there, and He did it with you in mind, and for your sakes!

What then is the opposite of 'blessing'? Curse! Galatians 3:13-14 tells us that 'Christ has become a curse for us, so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us'. The Bible also says 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'! Someone used to ask, "Is it really necessary for Jesus to die on a tree (i.e. a wooden cross)?" The answer is yes. Why? Because it was from a tree that Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:1-7), and therefore 'curse' came (Genesis 3:16-19), and so, in order to redeem you and reverse this curse, it was also necessary for Him to die on a tree as well.

When you live in His blessing, Proverbs 10:22 also says 'He adds no sorrow with it'. Praise God! It means 'no sorrow attached'! It also means 'no strings of whatever sorrows attached'! It means when He blesses you, He blesses you. Full stop. Period. No strings attached! For example, if God blesses you with say, an 'open door' to a lucrative career, it need not be 'attached' with you having to sacrifice your health, or even family!

Isaiah 53:4 says, 'Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows...' Psalm 127:2 says, 'It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows...' In fact, the word 'sorrow' here (i.e. 'etseb' in Hebrew) in Psalm 127:2 is the same word 'sorrow' in Proverbs 10:22, which can mean 'pain, worry, grief, hurts, bitterness, anguish, burdened, in a sorry state, or toiling/laboring with much pain and difficulty'. The good news is Jesus has carried them all for you at the cross, and therefore today, you can now be set free from all those 'sorrows'!

So, whatever 'sorrow' ('etseb') you may have at the moment, let all these go to Jesus. See all these hung on the cross, and see Jesus in all His love carrying them for you right now. He is here to carry them all, and there's really nothing that He cannot take or carry. After all, He had suffered the worst that the devil could ever hurl against anyone - spirit, soul, and body! In return, receive also the joy of the Lord, which is your strength.

People of God, my prayer for you today is that you are being set free from all those 'sorrows' of yours, and as you move on from here, Proverbs 10:22 shall also go with you every step of the way from now on. In Jesus' name. Amen.