Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 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 33:15-16, NIV)
Golf is an invitational game. Early on, when you get hooked, you start inviting friends to join you. It’s not as easy as getting them to come grab lunch, perhaps, or to watch a movie you recommend, but you ask eagerly.
Later, if you become competitive, you might also be more discriminating, looking for accomplished players. Why waste your time with hacks? Sounds egotistical, yes. But the idea can run the other way. If you’re a 90s shooter, you might find it intimidating to play with low handicappers. So you wave them ahead rather than endure an afternoon of heightened expectations—even if they’re only yours.
For most of us, the ongoing idea is to play with those whose company we enjoy. Even when traveling, where we might be paired with others we’ve never met, we hope it turns into a cordial four hours together. There’s good reason so many of us are happy to have a “regular game.”
In the early days of moving on from Egypt, Moses knew whom he wanted to hang out with: the Lord.
Through them, Moses seemed to understand, God could bring light to the world. But it would take God.This may seem obvious in our grace-minded New Testament understanding of God. For us, perhaps, the edges have been softened. Moses didn’t have this luxury. Though he had spoken to God in the desert and on the mountain, experiencing in God with an intimacy you and I can hardly fathom, he also had seen God unleash ten plagues on the Egyptian land, livestock, crops, and people. He has seen God part the sea then close it again. He’d watched bread fall from heaven and water come from a rock. And now God was going before him in clouds and in fire. “The same flame that warms a home can burn it down,” the Australian revivalist Winkie Pratney once wrote. This was the God Moses knew well. And yet this was the God Moses wanted with him at every turn.
Their having quickly abandoned the Lord in exchange for a golden calf, the Israelites had earned a most unflattering moniker from God: stiff-necked people. But these were the people Moses had been called to lead, and he wasn’t ready to give up on them. Through them, he seemed to understand, God could bring light to the world. But it would take God.
So when the Lord spoke to Moses about leading the people up to the land they had been promised, Moses put it in the plainest of words: “Not without you, Lord. Not without you.”
Moses’ desire should inspire our own. God will call us to places we cannot imagine (ask former NFL player Jason Brown). When God first did this with Moses, the prophet-to-be made every effort to back out. Now that he had seen all God could do, he offered a much revised version: “I’ll do it, Lord, but only if you go with me.”
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Jeff Hopper
March 9, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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