Exodus 33:14-15: “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.”

God was promising to be with not only Moses but with the people of Israel.  God was promising to send the Angel of His presence, the eternal Word and Son of God.  Jesus Christ would come to save them and redeem them and would bear their sins.  And He would be with them, even when they rebelled against Him.  “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people-- where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them?” Isaiah 63:9-11.

God promised to give the people rest.  He did not promise to give them ease or peace or tranquility of mind or freedom from the fear of enemies and all dangers of men.  The rest God promised to Moses and the Israelites was the land of Canaan itself.  The land was a symbol of the eternal rest that remains for the people of God in heaven.  It is a pure gift belonging to all of the people to whom God would give rest.  “since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you” Deuteronomy 12:9.

Moses was not willing to go anywhere unless God would be going with him.  Moses held God in such high standing, and realized just how worthless and insignificant everything else was without Him.  Even the promised land of Canaan was nothing in comparison to God’s presence.  Where we are and what we have don’t matter at all if God is not with us. 

But if God grants His presence, the greatest hardships in the wilderness are made easy.  We go through the most trying times with pleasure when we know that God is on our side.  “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Psalm 118:6.

Monday’s Reading

Old Testament:  Exod. 39, 40; New Testament:  Matt. 24:1-22