TUESDAY
Another theme that we see in these first few verses of our text for this week is the theme of God’s favor. Let’s read Exodus 33:12-17, again focusing on the favor of God.
Exodus 33:12–17 (NIV)
Moses and the Glory of the Lord
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
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?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
As you can see in the yellow highlights, this theme is all throughout this text. Moses doesn’t appeal to God on the basis of Moses’ attributes or accomplishments. He doesn’t say, “Look at how good I’ve been” or “I’m pretty good at what I do,” as if there was something intrinsically good about Moses that should cause God to favor him. No! God has just given Moses his favor.
Apparently, in his conversations with God, God has reaffirmed this favor to him. Sometimes we just need to hear from God that he is pleased with us. Like Jesus, before he begins his ministry, he hears the Father’s voice say, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
In verse 13, Moses, knowing that God is pleased with him, asks God to teach him his ways so that Moses can continue to find favor with God. God’s Law that he reveals to Moses is the revelation of how those who are favored by God should live in the Old Testament era. As one who has received God’s favor, Moses wants to continue living in a way that pleases God. He does not follow his laws to earn his favor, but as one who is a recipient of God’s favor. This is the same for believers today. We do not earn God’s favor by being moral. We are moral because we are recipients of God’s favor and want to please him.
Intrinsic to this idea of God’s favor is God’s knowledge of us. God gives Moses the intimate, relational declaration, “I know you by name.” To know one by name is to know them deeply. There is nothing more sweet in all of life than to know that God knows you by name.
As Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, “It is not so much of our knowing God, but of His knowing us, that matters." It is only by God’s grace and mercy that he would know us and show us his favor. We are not owed his favor but he gives it to his people anyways.
This favor of God is the starting point of our relationship with God. It is not the end point. We obey God, do his will, and follow his way from his favor, not for his favor. His favor is not earned. It is merely given. Then, as we walk in his way, we find his favor to remain with us. It is a gift of God’s favor that we may know his ways (morality, ethics, worship) and live in his favor, as those who have received his favor.
Many of us struggle with this concept in our life with Christ. Everywhere in life we feel as if the favor of others is contingent upon our performance, our looks, our value, or something else external to ourselves. We must earn the favor of our boss. We must earn the favor of our boyfriend or girlfriend. We must earn the favor of our coach. In some cases, we feel as if we must earn the favor of even our parents or our siblings. When we don’t receive the favor of others it can leave a deep wound in our souls that translates into our life with God. We struggle to believe that we can have God’s favor without earning it. We wonder if he is withholding it as a tactic to make us more moral or to do more good. So we strive for it in our own efforts only to feel like it is never enough.
Reflection
Do you feel as if you have been trying to earn God’s favor by giving, serving, attending church, being moral? Are you trying to earn what God has already freely given? Or are you living morally as a grateful response to the favor God has given you?
If you are in Christ, may you hear God say that he is pleased with you. May you know that you are favored by God. May you know, truly know, that he knows you by name.