Beginning in the Old Testament, God's presence is tangible in ways we often have not experienced or understood today. YHWH's presence was physically manifest in the glory cloud and pillar of fire, which led Israel. God warns Moses that His continued presence would be lethal for Israel, and yet Moses pleads for God's Presence to go with Israel.
Reflection is 20/20. We know God knows what is best for us. For He is God and we are not. I can respect Moses's request. He knows how he and the people are limited and so easily become wayward. I have often come to the Lord with the same request as Moses: Lord, do not leave me; do not leave my family, for we need you so. We need your guidance. We need to know we are going the way you are leading. We need the glory cloud and pillar of fire (or perhaps, in the NT, the Holy Spirit's whispers) to guide us forward.
But how often do our identities become tied to God's presence, so that we forget or get lost in who God is calling us to be as His people, and instead become those seeking the thrill of God's presence and the excitement around it, rather than God Himself? For God has revealed Himself in the burning bush, yes, but more often He is found in the quiet whispers. The Be Still and Know that I am God. It is in the slowing down, in the silence and solitude, that we truly are able to be with God. And as a shepherd, we need times on the mountain (alone) as Moses found to seek your face, to know you intimately, to hear your directions. And it is a reminder that it is not on our own timing but in yours. For Moses did not return to the people in their own timing, for they wandered and built a golden calf because of impatience, but instead He waited and sat. May we, as shepherds of God's people, do the same. May we not be those who depend upon the Presence and instead rest knowing He is ever with us.
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