Valuing God's Presence II
Tuesday,
6 August
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11
SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Exodus 3:11–4:14 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
Moses was sent by God but he began to plead
for God's presence to go with him. When we look at the interaction between
Moses and God at the burning bush, ordinarily, it would seem to an onlooker
that God’s presence was already enough. After all, Moses was speaking to God.
If God wasn't present, how come he was talking with God? In addition, signs and
wonders were happening, that seemed like a clear evidence of God being around.
How do we reconcile fire burning, rod changing to snake, hand turning leprous
and returning back to normal and the man was still asking God for His presence?
This shows us that Moses literally wanted
to see God physically. He didn't just want revelation, miracles and wonders; he
wanted to see God. He was asking God to commit Himself to him and bind himself
with an oath to him. Moses continued to press until the Lord gave him His word
and said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest:
Exo. 33:14. God's presence is beyond revelation and good preaching; it is
beyond healing, miracles, signs and wonders. These could appear as a result of
God's presence but they are not the ultimate of God's presence. The ultimate of
the Presence is God Himself with a man wherever he goes.
One would later discover that Moses knew
what he was talking about when he started making definite requests for God to
go with him. It wasn't long, in the course of Moses' assignment, that he faced
situations that only the presence of the Lord could answer. When Moses faced
the Red Sea, no amount of eloquence or anointing could do anything at that
junction; it was only the presence of Jehovah Himself that could speak. Psa.
114 explains that it wasn't Moses’ prayerfulness or because he had an anointing
for signs and wonders that made the Red Sea to part. The Scripture makes us
understand clearly that what happened was that as Moses was approaching the Red
Sea, the sea actually saw its Maker – the Creator of Heaven and earth coming
towards it, so it quickly made way. The same thing happened with Jordan and all
the mountains that stood as hindrance on the path of Moses.
The Presence of God is the difference!
Moses walked as a god in his generation because the presence of the Almighty
God was with him. Thank God for gifts and talents, anointing and graces,
abilities and callings but with all these, you must get God's presence to rest
upon your life. The Presence of God is the ultimate.
Prayer/Action
* Thank God for access to His presence.
TODAY’S PROPHETIC
PRAYER: In this month oh Father, position me
strategically for my helpers to locate me, in the wonderful name of Jesus.
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