Unless God Goes With Us
Exodus 33:15-16
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?
Moses had been leading the people of Israel at God’s instruction, miraculously through the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh and his army as they fled Egypt, and then to Mount Sinai where God reestablished his covenant relationship with His people through the Ten Commandments. God’s goal was to bring His people to the Land He had promised them to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants (the Israelite or Jewish people). And yet, as Moses recognized, without God’s presence they would be just like all the rest of the nations. Without God’s physical presence with them there would be nothing that distinguished them from any other people on earth. The one thing that distinguishes God’s people from the rest of the world is not simply being good or spiritual per se, but having God’s presence.
As Christians we tend to focus on our beliefs as that which make us distinct from others. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and our Savior who died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead to conquer death for all who trust in him. Which is true, but other than our beliefs, what actually makes us distinct in a physical way from the rest of the world? It is God’s presence with us. As Jesus promised in John 14:16 that he must leave us (i.e return to the Father) in order to send his Holy Spirit not just to be with us, but in us. In Acts the Holy Spirit came to dwell in Jesus’ disciples and they were recognized as being distinct and different (Acts 2). Something unusual was happening to them. They had a spiritual power which allowed them to do things which were only explainable by the presence of God in them and through them. As Jesus’ disciple Peter declared that day, “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgivenesses of your sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).” We too receive His Spirit when we repent of our sin, believe, and are baptized in Jesus’ name.
With the Holy Spirit living in us we are empowered and equipped to live this peculiar Godly lifestyle (by the worlds standards) so that people can see that there is something different about us. Our light shines, not because of our own goodness and effort but because the light of Christ, the Holy Spirit, is shining through us, his broken pots (jars of clay). The challenge for us as Christians is that letting our light shine before others usually means doing our good deeds so all can see. Unfortunately, this is often only out of our own strength and power, so when the world sees us, they see faithful Christian people following their dogma (beliefs), but they do not see that which is only explainable by God’s presence and power. And therefore they are not drawn to God.
Are we operating more of a “God helps those who help themselves” perspective, doing what we know we can do or want to do for God (and therefore not shining the power of the Holy Spirit), or are we following the leading and promoting of the Holy Spirit, who challenges us to do what we know is not possible by our own strength and power, so we walk by faith and not by sight and need to rely on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us? When that happens not only will we be transformed but those around us will see Jesus in us, and be drawn to him, and not us.