Face to Face: Living in God’s Presence
Moses
When God's Presence Becomes Your Greatest Treasure
What makes heaven so special? Take a moment to consider that question. Is it the absence of pain and suffering? The reunion with loved ones who've gone before us? The streets of gold or the beauty beyond description?
While all these things capture our imagination, there's something far more fundamental that makes heaven truly heaven: the presence of God.
The Divine Hand in Unexpected Places
The story of Moses begins with a remarkable display of God's sovereignty. A Hebrew baby boy, condemned to death by Pharaoh's edict, is placed in a basket and sent down the very river meant to be his grave. But that river became his path to life. The palace of the man who ordered his death became his childhood home.
This same word used for Moses' basket appears only one other time in Scripture—to describe Noah's ark. In both cases, God provided a vessel of salvation when death seemed certain. It's a powerful reminder that God's providential plan cannot be thwarted. The river intended to bring death brought life instead.
This divine orchestration continues in our lives today. Sometimes it looks like a crowded parade at Disneyland, where a simple prayer over lunch leads to a conversation about faith with someone who just moved to your city. God is always at work, positioning us for divine appointments if we'll simply make ourselves available.
Passion Without Wisdom Burns Bridges
Yet God's sovereignty doesn't excuse our responsibility to act wisely. Moses learned this the hard way. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses looked left and right—the universal sign of someone about to do something they shouldn't—and killed the Egyptian, hiding him in the sand.
His heart was in the right place. His passion for justice was God-given. But his method and timing were catastrophically wrong.
Fire without focus burns the house down.
This truth reverberates through every area of life. Nuclear energy can power cities or destroy them. Medicine can heal or enslave. Our convictions can build bridges or burn them. Even our social media posts can divide or redeem.
Zeal without discernment turns our best intentions into collateral damage. We live in an age where everyone has an opinion on everything, where a single post can create chaos. Moses reminds us that passion must be paired with wisdom, that good intentions require God's guidance.
The Disorientation of Not Belonging
After his catastrophic mistake, Moses fled to Midian. He married, had children, but never truly felt at home. When his son was born, he named him Gershom, meaning "I have become a foreigner in a foreign land."
This theme of not quite belonging echoes throughout Scripture. Jesus prayed for his followers, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."
We are pilgrims, not tourists.
Tourists lounge and enjoy the scenery. Pilgrims pass through with a destination in mind. We belong to the Lord before we belong to any place or people group. We're missionaries disguised as teachers, cooks, basketball players, and accountants.
This sense of displacement isn't a problem to solve—it's a reality to embrace. We don't fully belong here because our citizenship is elsewhere.
While Moses Waited, God Was Working
For forty years, Moses tended sheep in the wilderness. It seemed like wasted time, a detour from destiny. But God was at work, preparing Moses for the next forty years of his life.
Then came the burning bush—a bush ablaze but not consumed. When Moses approached, God spoke: "I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
Moses' response? A litany of excuses that sound remarkably familiar:
"Who am I?" (I'm a nobody.)
"I'm not eloquent." (I'm not qualified.)
"Please send someone else." (There must be someone better.)
We make these same excuses when God calls us to step out in faith. We focus on our limitations instead of looking at our limitless God. We believe lies about our inadequacy instead of truths about His sufficiency.
But notice God's response. He doesn't give Moses a pep talk about how great Moses is. He doesn't change the assignment. He simply says: "I will be with you."
God's presence is the greatest gift He can give. He doesn't send us out and expect us to figure it out alone. If you're a follower of Christ, you have the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing your future inheritance. You are never alone.
The One Thing That Matters Most
Later, after the Israelites repeatedly broke their covenant with God, the Lord told Moses: "You can still go to the land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go with you."
God offered them the Promised Land—everything they'd been dreaming of—but without His presence.
Moses' response is stunning: "If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here."
Moses understood something profound: A land flowing with milk and honey without God's presence is worthless.
This challenges everything our culture tells us. You could have all the money in the world, all the success, health, and popularity imaginable, but if Christ isn't the center of your life, you're missing it entirely.
What makes heaven heaven isn't the absence of mosquitoes or traffic or even death. It's the presence of God. And what makes hell hell isn't primarily fire or darkness—it's the absence of God.
Face to Face as a Friend
The text tells us Moses spoke to God "face to face, as one speaks to a friend."
Think about the people you love most. When you're with them, it doesn't matter what you're doing. A romantic dinner or walking the aisles of Target buying diapers—it's all good because you're together.
You have a God who created the cosmos, who knows everything about you, inviting you into His presence to speak face to face. Not screen to screen. Face to face.
When God revealed Himself to Moses, He declared His character: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."
Unlike earthly relationships where you wake up tiptoeing on eggshells wondering which version of someone you'll get today, God is unchanging. Every morning you wake up to the same compassionate, gracious, forgiving, and just God.
The Law Points to the Lamb
What did Moses and God talk about during all that time together? Certainly about the Law that would guide God's people. But that Law was never meant to be the end goal—it was a guardian pointing to something greater.
The Law revealed God's holiness and our inability to meet His standard. The sacrificial system provided temporary covering for sin. But all of it pointed forward to Jesus—the ultimate Passover Lamb whose blood would save all who believe.
Isaiah prophesied: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."
Moses would probably tell us to stop romanticizing his mountaintop experiences and recognize the miracle we possess: the Spirit of the living God dwelling within every believer.
The Question That Changes Everything
So here's the question: Would you honestly choose God's presence over success, comfort, or the fulfillment of your dreams?
What practical steps can you take to move from religious performance to genuine friendship with God?
The cry of every human heart is for blessing, for love, for acceptance. And God offers all of this freely—not through what you can achieve, but through His presence in your life.
It's not about performance. It's about presence.
The market goes up and down. Careers rise and fall. But with the presence of God in your life, you're going to be okay. More than okay—you're going to thrive in the ways that truly matter.
Because at the end of the day, everything else will collect dust, rot, and fade. But knowing God and being known by Him? That's the treasure that lasts forever.