Great desperation filled his voice as Moses bowed low before God, as he cried out for mercy! So much had happened, yet he knew he was incapable of dealing with what was yet to come. Inside this “tent of meeting” (Ex 33:9) God was speaking, “Depart, go up from here … I will send an angel before you … for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way” (Ex 33:1-3). Afraid to attempt the impossible without God’s presence, Moses cried out for mercy!
Through the series of dreadful miracles (the ten “plagues” that had fallen on Egypt), through the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, through the daily giving of the miracle food “manna” and finally through the hearing of the Voice of God from the mountain top, the nation had come from Egyptian slavery to the barren wilderness! Into the very presence of God Himself, at the base of Mount Sinai.
Having heard the Ten Commands from God Himself, the people had then watched Moses climb upward and disappear into the cloudy heights of God’s Presence. And they had waited for his return. And waited. And after many days he had not returned.
So, without a prophet and without a tangible god that they could see and touch, in fear and disobedience they reverted to the days of Egypt, making for themselves a god, a golden calf, an idol. Even though the Second of the Ten Commands had forbidden idols! “So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Ex 32:6). But there was no peace. Far above, on the mountain top, the Lord saw. “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for your people … have corrupted themselves’” (Ex 32:7).
What happened next is difficult to know. God was seemingly ready to destroy them all, but Moses cried out, interceded, entreated God, prayed for His mercy, and reminded God of His past promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of these disobedient people. And equally hard to explain, “… the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people” (Ex 32:14)! Moses ran down the mountain with the two stone tablets on which God had engraved His Law, the Ten Commands, and “… as soon as Moses came near the camp … he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain,” (Ex 32:19). The Law had already been broken and now the Tablets of the written Law were shattered. Moses ground the golden calf to powder, scattered it on the water and the people were made to drink it. Further judgement came and people died, slaughtered. Finally, an exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed Moses turned back to the Lord. As he desperately prayed for these people, Moses even begged that if God would not forgive their sin, then God should “… blot me out from Your book which You have written!” (Ex 32:32).
And so, God had stated, “… I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way” (Ex 33:4). Then, in desperation, Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me.” Further, Moses reminded the Lord that He had said to Moses, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight” (Ex 33:12). Moses is confused, frustrated, and hurt, but he quickly gets to the heart of the issue, “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You …” (Ex 33:13)!
Ah, there it is, the need of Moses, the nation of Israel, both your need and mine! If Moses, who by this time we think should have known God and His ways better than anyone, this Moses to whom God spoke “… face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11), if Moses prayed this prayer, then certainly you and I need to pray it unto God! We need to know God! And therefore, as the first and most obvious way to know Him, we must learn His ways! We must pray, “Lord, let me know Your ways that I may know You.”
Everything is About God 