The Presence of God

"It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him." -Exodus 34.29

When Moses came down from the mountain the first time, the people we worshiping the Golden Calf. He had brought the tablets of the covenant that God had made with the people, but in his anger he threw them to the ground and they shattered. The people were unworthy to receive them, and Moses was furious that they had turned so quickly from God. And so God instructed Moses to cut out two more stone tablets, and to bring them up the mountain and He would write on them like the first time. Moses does, and he spends another forty days on the mountain with God.

When he returns for the second time with the tablets of the covenant, his face is shining. He has spent forty days in the presence of God. For forty days he has been sustained by the words of God alone. He has been face to face with God, and when he returns from his "quiet time" the people can tell that he has been with God.

Men, what is the result of your quiet time/devotional time/prayer hour/whatever you call it? Can people tell that you have spent time with God, genuine time? Your face may not be actually glowing, but is your attitude and demeanor evidence that you have been in the presence of the Creator? Or is your alone time with God something done hastily to check it off of a spiritual to do list. Five minutes in the Bible with no idea what you even read, followed by a general two minute prayer for the day, and then it's business as usual.

If we would be men of God then we have to have time on the mountain alone with God. We have to have time where we are sustained by God alone, otherwise our lives look like the seven minutes in the last sentence of the previous paragraph. That type of life doesn't yield a man of God, and it doesn't give one a glowing face. We must spend daily time in the presence of God. Time where we are completely alone with Him, sustained by Him.

Where is your mountain? Where do you go to be in the presence of God?

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor