Original Entry Date 10/25/2014: The relationship between Moses and God is like no other. God chose Moses to be the one to enter into His Mighty Presence while the rest of the people were strictly warned to keep far away or be struck dead by God’s wrath. Even coming as close as touching the base of the mountain would be certain death but here was Moses meeting God, Face to Face.
Exodus 33:11a NKJV:
So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend…
Moses meets with God for another round of 40 days and 40 nights. During this timeframe, Moses writes down the Ten Commandments once again.
Let’s take note of Moses and his appearance after coming out of God’s Presence.
Exodus 34:27– NKJV:
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with Him.
There is SO MUCH in there, we could probably talk about it for days on end so there will be more entries to come!! Here we see Moses covering his face with a veil when out of the Presence of the Lord. To cover the face is to cover the inner being of a person; that which makes them unique just as each of us has our own unique facial features. Facial expressions are an indicator of a persons’ emotions so to cover is as though a covering is laid over the heart.
When Moses enters into the Presence of the Lord, he removes the veil. This symbolizes how we are to enter into the Lord’s Presence with an unveiled face and heart; being fully transparent with Him. Read this little snippet I found from an article online:
“Many of us hate opening up to people for a number of reasons; whether that be thinking that people won’t understand what you’re going through, you don’t want people to know what you’re going through or you just don’t want to talk. I’ve always been the kind of person to keep things in as I’m a private person however not being fully transparent with God has harmed me a lot. Throughout my life, I had faced certain things that I’ve just blocked out rather than deal with these things. Due to this, I had placed a mask on my face pretending that everything was alright and believing that those obstacles never existed. I thought by doing this I would be strong but rather God showed me that by doing this I was being WEAK!”
Placing a mask on one’s face, to cover, to hide the REAL person beneath. God knows everything, even the things we don’t even realize about ourselves, so why does it matter?!
There’s just something about laying it all before God, baring our souls to Him that brings peace. It’s an acknowledgment of Trust on our part. It shows that we truly trust in God, we trust Him with our hearts, and we BELIEVE He hears and will respond.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
In the same way that Moses comes out from God’s Presence, face shinning, full of Light so are we when we seek God for help with all of our troubles.
Psalm 34:4-6 NKJV:
I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
Let’s be like Moses and remove the veil from our face when entering into God’s Presence. Let’s stand in full view of the Lord, uncovering our hearts and revealing the innermost parts of our souls.
