This is Part III of a message I gave in India in December 2018. You can read Part I here and Part II here.
Sorry for the delay. This post sat as a draft on my computer for a couple of months because I thought it was too disjointed to share, but I recently re-read it and think it’s still worth sharing! – XO, Karina, a recovering perfectionist
Do you know who you are?
We can only know who we truly are by knowing first who God is.
“I AM WHO I AM…this is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” Ex 3:14
Moses learns that God is holy, Yahweh – the Supreme God, “the God of your fathers” – the God of Israel’s past, present and future.
Our primary identity is not in material possessions or our family connections or even our culture.
God is our father, and we are His children. And as such we should exhibit His traits.
1 Peter 2:9-11: “We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of God. God’s people, having received mercy. Sojourners and exiles.”
We are just passing through. We are on our way to somewhere else.
And where is God calling us? To Heaven, yes,
but more importantly, to Himself.
You don’t have to wait to get to heaven to have intimacy with God. God desires that here and now with us.
1 John 3:2-3: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. Everyone who has this hope purifies himself, just as he is pure.
God is holy and he requires holiness from his people. (1 Peter 1:13-16)
We can never be sinless, but we can humbly allow the Holy Spirit to transform us as we submit to His Word.
As we strive to be more like God daily, we allow the character of Christ to be formed in us.
- Are you seeking His favor or His face?
As we read the story of Exodus, we see the characteristic that distinguishes Moses from the Israelites is that he was a friend of God.
Ex. 33: The Israelites were content to experience the manifestation of God’s presence when it passed the outside of their tents as a pillar of cloud. But Moses went into the tent. They were not interested in knowing God.
Ex. 33:11 – “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”
We are all in danger of being like the Israelites – so concerned with the blessings of God that we forget that God is a person and he desires to commune with us, that Jesus gave up his very life so that we could have fellowship with Him.
Sometimes we feel like we are cursed, that God is withholding his blessings from us in judgement. But oftentimes God in his mercy will allow us to undergo a season of lack or suffering to reveal to us who He is. And to remind us of who we are!
Let us not trade the face of God for his favor.
During a recent season of fasting, God convicted me – He said to me, “You want the promises of God more than the God of the promise.” It caused a reorientation in my way of thinking and praying.
When we focus solely on the blessings and prosperity of God, we are apt to abandon God and turn to idols when there is adversity or lack or delay. (i.e. the Golden Calf: Ex. 32)
When Moses interceded for the Israelites:
Ex. 33: 15 “Then Moses said to him “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here…”
Ex. 33:17: “And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and know you by name.”
Moses did not make it into the Promised Land. But how sad could he be? He spoke to God, face to face. I’m sure Canaan was amazing, but how could it compare with the intimate presence of God?
God Himself is our reward.
Photo by Kelvin Valerio from Pexels
EN 
ES