Face to Face

Thursday, March 25

Face to Face

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Exodus 33:11

With all the rules of social distancing one thing most people are missing is just being able to see someone face-to-face. Yes, we can connect through technology but there is nothing like a conversation face-to-face.

We see this face-to-face relationship between the Lord and Moses, the man God chose to lead His people. Moses grew in confidence over the years of following God, and he continued to follow Him despite the people’s rebelliousness and idolatry. The face of Moses was radiant after he had spoken with the Lord (Exodus 34:29) and today’s verse speaks further about this special relationship that Moses had with God. Moses set up a tent outside of the camp in which to meet God, while they had to watch from a distance (33:7–11). As the pillar of cloud signifying God’s presence descended to the tent, Moses spoke on their behalf. The Lord promised that His Presence would go with them (v. 14). God would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.

Moses would return to the camp after meeting with God, but we’re told that Joshua didn’t leave the tent. What amazing preparation it was for Joshua, remaining in the presence of the Lord! Later on, we read that Joshua was one of the twelve men sent by Moses to explore the Promised Land (Numbers 13), and while ten of them could only focus on the problems and their own weaknesses, seeing the people there as giants and themselves like grasshoppers, Joshua’s response was completely different.

One can only assume this confidence came from spending time in the presence of the Lord. Joshua was able to see things from God’s perspective and have complete faith that God would do what He promised. God was later able to entrust to him the tremendous responsibility of leading the people into the Promised Land.

Do we remain in the presence of the Lord, or do we pop in and out, hastily asking for help for all that we need? God is longing for us to remain with Him so that He can speak to us face to face. The more we do, the more we will see ourselves as He sees us instead of focusing on our weaknesses and problems, and the more we will see the situations we are up against from His perspective.

Prayer for today: Lord, forgive me for the times I have popped quickly in and out of your presence. In Your presence is courage and comfort. I want to learn to remain in your presence so you can speak to me, and I want to see things as you see them. Please help me to do this. In Jesus, Amen.