By Authrine Dryden
8 Moses immediately threw himself to the ground and worshiped. 9 And he said, “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favor with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession.”
10 The Lord replied, “Listen, I am making a covenant with you in the presence of all your people. I will perform miracles that have never been performed anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the Lord—the awesome power I will display for you. 11 But listen carefully to everything I command you today. Then I will go ahead of you and drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Exodus 34:8-11 (NLT)
“Praise His name! Thank you, Lord,” cried the mother ecstatically as the tears streamed down her face. “Glory to God!” she proclaimed as the children looked on in bewilderment. One dared to ask in a really small voice “What’s the matter mom?” As the mother looked at her children, she wondered how she can explain what God had done for her and that she was crying because she was happy. That she had found favour with God. How God rescued her from her mortgage debts, paid off her insurance, paid off her car payments, paid up back bills! This was possible because she had won her court case – a battle with all odds stacked against her. How can she explain this to her 3-year-old twins?
Have you experienced such favour? Can you attest to such euphoric feeling of having found favour with God? Well Moses certainly can too. As he recognises his position with God, he worshipped the Lord but then pleaded with God for the people – God’s people. In the previous chapter the Lord said He will show mercy and compassion to whom he chooses. And so, he chose to show favour to Moses. Being favoured is much better that actually being skilled and learned. These factors can only take you so far, but it is the favour of God that far outweighs these even through adversity. Look at Joseph being favoured in prison (Gen 39:21) Then Esther who won the favour of the earthly King only after having found favour with her heavenly King (Esther 5:8).
Now we can certainly relate with the mother in the above scenario of how finding favour with God is expressed. How can she really explain to her very young children? Even explaining to another adult can be fairly tricky. Nevertheless, experiencing the favour of God is an awesome feeling. Recognising that unless we rely on Him it would be impossible. Having a relationship with God is paramount to developing intimacy which draws us even much closer to God and allows us to experience His favour.
Ask – How has the favour of God affected the Israelites?
Seek – Have you ever experienced the favour of God?
Knock – Having the favour of God is crucial to our journey. Let us strive towards this.
(Upper Photo by Xan Griffin on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash)
