‘‘If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you.’’ Exodus 33:13
Listen to more of Moses’ friendly talk with God: ‘If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you.’ Moses is in a national crisis that could end Israel’s relationship with God, and what is he praying for? Not, ‘God, I’m in a tough spot. You have to resolve this for me!’ But, ‘Teach me your ways so I may know you!’ Moses wants more than just to know God’s awesome works. His heart cries out to know God’s heart and what makes it tick – the inner ways of God. ‘To know Him’ includes all the other things Moses could ever seek, including the solution to his problem. And God gave him what he asked. ‘He made known his ways unto Moses’ (Psalm 103:7). Here is more of that conversation: God responded, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest’ (v. 14). That ‘you’ in the Hebrew is singular. God promised to accompany Moses and give rest to him. Anybody else would have accepted gladly. Not Moses. His prayer was bigger than his own concerns. ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here’ (v. 15). In other words, ‘Lord, it’s not for me I’m praying; it’s for us!’ And God answered that prayer. Are your prayers bigger than yourself and your own needs? The Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world’ (John 3:16). Do you pray for your town, nation, and the world? You have been called to and you should!
