Show me your Glory: Exodus 33: The beauty of the Unknown
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
– Exodus 33
Firstly i am aware of the irony that it is that i am blogging about strategy yet i am tackling this scripture in such an unstructured manner. This is mostly due to the fact that I am currently overwhelmed. I can confidently say that at this point in my life i have bitten off more than i can chew. The combination of uncertainty in the ministry, the growth of our company, the purchasing of our new home, the wedding and the realisation of husbandhood has proven to be somewhat well beyond my handling abilities.
Have you ever just had that feeling that you are overwhelmed? Tonight i feel just that, like i just need a touch from my King and Best friend. Faithful as always is despite my lack of strength and faith i am led back to my scripture for 2013.
Exodus 33.
I never noticed this… The beginning of this conversation is actually a question. Moses enquires… god why have you called me to lead these people yet i don’t know who you’ll send with me… In other words. God you’ve called me to lead (to perform a task) but i don’t know every detail… How will this even work?
The tension of faith and following God is one of complete trust in our father. To obey not to understand. To obey because of who we know God is, that he all powerful and he loves us. To obey because of who he is not because of what he tells us to do. There is a difference, the former is relational the latter transactional. The former is a response to love, the latter a response motivated by logic.
Our God although much wiser then us, calls us to follow him because of relationship (1 John 4:19), not because his way gives us the best life (although his way will give us what is for our good and his glory).
Ultimately Moses encouragement for his uncertainty did not come from an answer to his question… but rather a revelation of his relationship with his heavenly father. A revelation that despite the unknown he loves and follows a God who “knows him by name” whose relationship has bought Moses this far through his “favour”, whose relationship has meant a presence that has inspired, empowered and equipped Moses from a murderer to a leader of 1 million people. A revelation that it’s not what you do, or even who you are but who you know.
It’s in and amongst this unknown that we leaders, we christians can get stuck. God you’ve told me to do this or that but how does that even make any sense. You haven’t told me who you will send with me (the finer details).
But it’s in this frustrating place (where I am now in so many areas of my life) that you realise my comfort is in the relationship that i would trade nothing else for, my peace comes from the realisation that I am not my own, the realisation that the outcomes i yearn for are irrelevant and beyond my control. The realisation that no matter what happens it’s for my good and for His glory, the realisation that my first and only job is to remain madly in love with the one who loved me first and died for me.
It’s in this realisation that you can truly thank God for the unknown, because what results is one of two outcomes. You give up on God due to frustration and start trying to take control on your own. Or if you let it the outcome might be truly the definition of “faith” – a complete and utterly helpless trust on the mighty omniscient control of God. The former leads down the road toward more frustration, the latter leads down the road of vulnerability and humility.
It is in and amongst this that I surrender control to Jesus. I say Jesus my friend and king – I am in over my head, i don’t know the details BUT “teach my your ways that I may continue to find favour with you… I need your presence, that if your presence does not go with me then do not send me up from here because what will distinguish me from the other people of the earth if not by your presence?”
It is here in the unknown where we will find favour, rest and ultimately accomplish our purpose for our Good and his Glory.
Heart to Hands 