Absolutely amazing
“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?” -Exodus 33:15-16
It’s been a while since I’ve really thought about the impact God has on my life. I mean, I think about it every day, but in a different way. I haven’t really known anything different. And I suppose Israel didn’t know much different either. The presence that God had with them is how they distinguished themselves. I hadn’t realized it until now but the Bible is full of moments where the people cry out for the Presence of God. It seems that our generation isn’t so familiar with the concept of relishing in the presence of God (otherwise known as the Holy Spirit) because the image of what we understand to be the Holy Spirit is so weak. We constantly refer to the HS in symbolic terms that are hard to relate to. Like wind, fire, or a dove. Christ gives us a solid reference for us to use to identify with God as the Father. But who can really identify with the wind? Or a bird? In this passage out of Exodus, something stuck out to me in its tone. It’s very similar to the tone of Paul in the NT in John 14 when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and is in you.” (v.16-17)
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I five you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (v.26-27)
In these passages Paul doesn’t use symbolic terms to describe the presence of the Holy Spirit. It’s more personal than that. The Holy Spirit isn’t some ambiguous impersonal force. The Holy Spirit isn’t an “it”. The Holy Spirit is God’s presence on earth; within God’s people.
Gosh, there is SO much there, in those few passages that gets me so jazzed. There is so much more I could say. But moreso, I think there is a lot there that some people reading this already know because God is speaking to them from within right now. (Great feeling, isn’t it? 🙂
So, since I’m tired, I think I’ll just stop here with this thought…
I pray that the presence of the Holy Spirit is what distinguishes me from every other person on this earth.
