What Did Moses Hear Part 2: What Did Moses See?

After breaking the original stone tablets, Moses ascended the mountain at God’s invitation carrying two new tablets on which God would write the Law. While Moses was up there, The LORD descended in the cloud and stood by Him (Exodus 34:5) . As I wrote in earlier posts, this had to have been an amazing mountain top experience and I think there is a lot to learn about God in what He says to Moses. (See also What Did Moses Hear?) Exodus 34 tells us that the LORD proclaimed His name and I want to take time to examine what He said. But before we do, let’s think about what Moses saw.

Moses cut two new stones and took an early morning hike up Mount Sinai as commanded by the LORD (Exodus 34:4). As he reached his destination, Moses was joined by the LORD who, according to verse 5, “...descended in the cloud and stood with him there…” My understanding is that the cloud represented the presence of God on the mountain. So at that moment Moses could already see the presence of the Lord on the mountain top. But then the Bible says the Lord went a step further by standing there in the cloud with Moses. It’s as if, according to Moses’ testimony, the LORD took some sort of physical form right there in the cloud. How awesome must that have been?

What did Moses see standing next to Him? Both Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers and the Pulpit Commentary point to God’s promise recorded in the previous chapter that His “goodness” would pass before Moses. Both also point to the pillar of cloud that led Israel out of Egypt. We are limited because the Bible does not tell us exactly what Moses saw or how he was able to see, or otherwise become aware of, the LORD standing with him. But somehow, someway the LORD was there and Moses got to see and hear God in some way, shape or form.

Are you aware of what the Lord is doing in your life? If you are a Christian, are you aware of God’s Spirit living in your heart? Even more important, have you surrendered your will to the One who is always with you? Today we likely will never have the experience that Moses had on Mount Sinai, at least not while we are here on earth, but the Lord is with us and will find ways to make His presence known. Ask God to help you be aware of His presence in your life. Seek Him with all of your heart and He will reveal Himself to you.

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Deuteronomy 4:29 (NKJV)

Coincidence or God’s Plan?

As a Christian I believe that my life is in God’s hands and that He puts me where He wants me, as long as I am willing to obey. Sometimes He puts me in the right place at the right time so that I can receive a blessing. Other times He puts me where I can be a blessing to others. Last week He put me in one of those situations where I am certain that His plan was for me to serve Him when someone else was truly in need.

It all began with the recent cold snap, during which the facilities team at my day job had difficulties dealing with a rebellious heating control system. As MLK Day was drawing to a close, the day job sent out a text asking all nonessential personnel to work from home the next day. This meant rescheduling a meeting, which wasn’t a problem, except that one of the other person wanted to meet face to face and could only fit me in on Wednesday. I normally work from home on Wednesdays but in this case I was outranked. So I took the Wednesday time slot, making sure I had my winter coat ready.

It was still really cold Wednesday morning, which forced me to change my routine. Usually when I go into the office I take the train down the William H. Gray III -30th Street Station in Philadelphia and then I take a thirteen minute walk down to the building where my office is located. But I’m not a fan of the cold, especially when the weather people are calling it a dangerous cold. So that day, instead of walking I took an underground train that runs through the middle of downtown.

When I stepped into the train car I noticed what looked like a homeless person in a wheelchair. In Philly this is not an odd sight, so I simply continued to mind my own business. As we approached my stop, the person in the wheelchair moved over in front of the door that I had planned to use to get off of the train. My first thought was to move to another door but something told me that I should stay where I was.

When the door opened, the man in the wheelchair moved forward and I followed, giving him the space he needed to get off of the train. Unfortunately the front wheels of his chair got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform and as he tried to move, one of the wheels turned so that it was going in the same direction as the gap. I quickly realized that the wheel was going to drop down into the gap which would have caused his chair to pitch forward, so I reached out and caught the frame of the chair, holding it and its passenger up while pushing the man off of the train. He was thankful for my help and I was glad that I had not moved to another door.

Before that moment I saw the cold and the rescheduled meeting as simply a part of the normal course of life. After I sat down in my office, it occurred to me that I was in the right place at the right time in order to prevent what might have been a serious accident. That is when I realized that everything that happened that morning, as well as the day before, was orchestrated to make sure I was there to help that man. Yes, it could just be a coincidence but I’ve had so many of these kinds of coincidences that I am convinced that this was God’s plan.

My prayer is that I will be more aware of what God is doing in my life. I pray the same for you in your life as our Creator works to reveal His love and compassion to you and to those around you.

What Did Moses Hear?

In my last post I wrote about Moses’ mountain top experience and how God’s children have the opportunity to experience mountain top experiences daily because of God’s Spirit living in us. Knowing this helped me deal with being jealous of Moses as I realized there just might be something better than a mountain top experience. But I also have to admit that in Exodus 34 Moses experienced something truly unique. This was the second time that Moses went up the mountain to receive the commandments and what God revealed to Him is very important to all of us who want to follow the Lord.

Moses destroyed the original tablets when he broke them at the foot of the mountain after seeing the golden calf that Aaron and the people of Israel created (Exodus 32). In chapter 34 the LORD tells Moses to cut two more tablets of stone and to bring them up to the top of Mount Sinai, which Moses does. While Moses was on the mountain the LORD descended in a cloud and stood with Moses. The Bible says the LORD then “...proclaimed the name of the LORD.”

I hope to write a few posts looking at this proclamation. What did the LORD say and what does it mean? I think this is important as in this “name” God reveals His nature, helping Moses (and us) understand who God really is. I hope you will join me in this study as we learn who God is in His own words as He proclaimed:

“The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffereing, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”   Exodus 34:6-7