tribesofsinai2024

Yesterday we saw how devastating Aaron and Israel’s breaking of the Covenant was for the Lord, for Moses and for Israel. Everyone was grieving at the news that the Lord was sending an angel to lead them into the promised land but was not going to go with them himself unless he destroyed them on the way. 

Moses could not accept this and went to his tent outside the camp where the LORD would speak with him face to face, as one speaks to a friend.^[1] There he conversed with the LORD telling him that he had asked him to lead the people but that he had not let Moses know whom he would send with him. After all his encounters with the Lord in Egypt, through the Sinai, in the cloud over his prayer tent, and on Mount Sinai, Moses still felt he did not know the one who would lead them into the promised land. 

‘’If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.’’

The Lord replied, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’’^[2]

Moses pushes for more and implores “Show me your glory’’^[3]

The LORD’s response is enigmatic. He promises to pass by with his glory while covering Moses with his hand. 

“You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.^’’[4]

So Moses used to regularly speak with the Lord face to face yet couldn’t see his face and live!! It seems Moses had the most intimate conversations with the LORD yet there remained a vast gulf between his experience and the glory of the infinite.

The LORD tells Moses to ascend Mount Sinai once again, with two newly carved stone tablets for a renewed covenant. The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD – merciful, gracious, patient, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Yet he doesn’t leave the wicked unpunished.^[5]

It was this revelation of the LORD’s character to be compassionate and merciful to thousands of generations AND to be faithful to punish the wicked that convinced Moses that the broken Covenant could and would be renewed. 

Through the crisis, Moses appeals to the infinite and wins his case. He enters the fray with all his efforts and ministry disintegrating into nothing and comes out with two new tablets of testimony in his hands and with his face shining with the glory of God! 

Reflection

Might being a true Israelite be this struggle Moses and Jacob made with the LORD and men against impossible odds until they overcame?^[6]

When was the last time you got hold of the LORD?

Prayer 

Thank the Lord for saving Moses and the children of Israel out of total failure and for blessing him with a shining face. 

Praise the LORD that we have a God who is compassionate and merciful and who is faithful to punish the wicked. 

Please pray for extraordinary men and women of God to be called and formed in the Sinai. We are planning discipleship training in the Sinai for a handful of young people from October 24 to May 25. 

Pray that they may develop the taste the tenacity of Moses to seek and execute the Lord’s purposes and blessing in this generation. 

^[1] Exodus 33:11.

^[2] Exodus 33:12-14. 

^[3] Exodus 33:18. 

^[4] Exodus 33:20.

^[5] Exodus 34:5-8. 

^[6] Genesis 32:28.