“Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’  If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

“The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 33:12-14

I stumbled upon this passage today and it blessed me immensely. I’m not even sure what all that blessing is about, but I love the way Moses lays out before the Lord his demands and a plan for what he needs from the Lord to do what the Lord is asking of him. And I love the Lord’s reply – you have ME!  In the final analysis God gives Moses what he asks for because He is pleased with him and knows him by name – a mark of presence (relationship) — but the provision is not knowledge or favor, rather it is relationship.  I also love it that in the relationship striving for favor ends . . . instead there is rest.

This dovetails with a thought that’s been growing in me about Romans 12:1&2.  We are living sacrifices. Usually a sacrifice is consumed, burned, destroyed – dead.  But we are living sacrifices. To some degree that is about us climbing on the altar and staying there or climbing on over and over again – which tends to be my pattern. There is something required of us. But a living sacrifice is a miracle and the life comes from God. In a place where we should be consumed we are instead filled up, sustained, and continually raising up a pleasing fragrance to God as He continually replenishes our life. What a miracle! What a blessing! God Almighty Himself loves us and wants to be with us. And out of that amazing relationship comes everything we need to know, love, serve and please Him.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2