Are you sure you want God to go with you?
Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 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?" (Ex. 33:15, 16). So many stirring sermons and articles have sprung from this passage. We get encouraged to seek the Presence of God, to be marked by Him, and not be satisfied with anything less. That's a great message. But it's not the whole story. The reason Moses had this conversation with God in the first place is found earlier in the chapter. "Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way....If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you" (vv. 3, 5). We usually forget that part in the story of Moses knowing and wanting God so much that he persuades...