ARE YOU ASKING?
Exodus 33:11-20
Someone who cries out is someone who is dead serious. You’ll never discover that God is all you need until He’s all you have.
Read text.
-Moses was someone who cried out for God. Here is a man who is called friend. (v. 11)
-To be God’s friend is to enjoy the intimacy of His continuous presence. God isn’t satisfied with a casual relationship or with occasional encounters.
-What brought about that friendship for Moses? It was God’s gracious response to fill the passionate hunger Moses had for Him.
-Communication was at the heart of this friendship. Moses would go and talk with God in the tent of meeting and god would talk to Moses.
-When communication is strong, relationships are strong. When communication breaks down, relationships break down as well.
-We’re supposed to talk to God all the time. This means we cannot look at the full picture of prayer as a separate, formalized activity.
-There’s nothing in our daily experience that we aren’t supposed to talk to God about.
-So how do you do this?
praying. And as you develop this habit of intimacy, of talking to God about everything all day long, you can’t help but get closer to Him.
-Anyone who is passionately pursuing intimacy, walking with God and including Him in everything, will get to hear God’s voice.
-He always speaks in a manner consistent with His Word, never in contradiction. He applies His Word personally to our daily walk. And there’s nothing more potent than knowing what God says to you.
Verse 12 tells us why Moses felt free to make requests from God.
-Having God’s favor means He is happy with you.
Sometimes we get in pressure situations and we feel like we really need to know what God is doing. But that’s something you can only know if you have favor with God.
Example: Calling a beautician at the last minute for a haircut. Can they “fit you in.” If you only go to them occasionally, they may tell you to go to your regular beautician. If you are faithful to their services, they will be glad to help you out if at all possible.
-Too many of us, when you face a sudden crisis, will go to God and ask for Him to fit us in, but we haven’t been faithful and regular in coming to Him beforehand.
-Moses had been faithful and regular. And because he had been regular and faithful, he came to God with 3 requests:
1. He wanted to know God’s WAYS (v. 13)
He wanted to know His habits and behaviors, His plans and intentions. Moses knew that the better he knew God’s ways, the better he knew God.
-This prayer request came at a very critical time for him. The people of Israel had just built an idol – a golden calf – after God gave Moses His Law. Now God was angry with them. Moses knew he needed to know God better in order to know what to do as a leader of these disobedient people.
Moses did not want information, he wanted illumination. He didn’t want a list of facts, he wanted God to “disclose Himself.”
-One of the great fruits of growing close to God is asking and receiving information that leads to illumination.
-You know, we need God to turn the light on our lives. We need to see with fresh urgency, His divine purpose and direction for us. We need that clarity before we can go forward.
-Not did Moses want to know God’s ways;
2. He also wanted to know God’s continuing presence was among His people.
-Moses prayed for the people of Israel and pleaded for God to guide them.
-This request came about because even though Moses had found favor with God, the people of Israel as a whole had not.
Look at verse 14. The “you” is singular.
-But Moses boldly asked God to extend that promise to the entire nation and he told God why: look at verse 16.
-Moses was saying, “I need You to go with us. We are nothing without You.
-“I want us to know You on the highest possible level.”
-It’s the same situation as when you get on your knees for your family or for your church.
-“Oh God, my wife and children need Your presence in our lives. Oh God, we are struggling as a church body and we need Your presence here with us.”
-How do you know you have His presence with you? There is a distinction from the world. You have a testimony that makes you different.
-Not only did Moses want to know God’s ways and His continual presence,
3. He also wanted to see God’s glory.
Look at verse 18.
-This is as deep as you can get. God’s glory is the sum total of his perfections.
-God’s glory is the actual manifestation of His attributes.
-It’s one thing for us to say God is omnipotent, that He is all powerful. It’s quite another thing to see that power. It’s one thing to say that God is everywhere, that He’s omnipresent. It’s another thing to see Him show up where you need Him right now. It’s one thing to say that God is sovereign. And He is – He sits as the controller of the universe. But it’s another thing to actually see Him take charge of your mess. It’s one thing to know God’s attributes and be able to recite them. It’s quite another to see them show up.
-Moses had seen some wild stuff from the hand of God: a bush that wouldn’t burn; his shepherds crook turned into a snake and back to a staff; the devastating effects of plagues on the nation of Egypt; the parting of the Red Sea; and the fire and thunder on mount Sinai. We are not talking about some novice here who is asking to see God’s glory.
-Why would a man who has seen so much ask to see God’s glory?
-Moses knew there was so much more to God and he wanted to see it.
-The more you see of God, the more you want to see Him.
Look at God’s first response: verse 19 Then He added verse 20.
-Moses had grown so hungry for God that he could boldly ask to see the very face of God. The Lord had to tell him that was impossible.
Moses got to see more of God than you and I have ever seen but it was only a glimpse.
God wants you to see as much of Him as you can. Are you asking for him? He wants you to ask everyday for his presence. He wants you hungry.
