Is God Optional to You?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“…for I [God] will not go up in your [the Israelites] midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people:” Exodus 33:3

… Then he [Moses] said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Exodus 33:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Moses is saying, “God, if You’re not going, I'm not going.”

St. Augustine once asked:

If God were to come to you and say, “I’ll give you anything you want. Nothing will be withheld. You can have whatever you want with one exception: you will never see My face,” would you take that proposition? If a chill went over your soul when you heard that phrase, “You will never see My face,” thank God for that chill.

God offered to send the Israelites along their way with the protection of an angel. He promised them victory in the Promised Land. But Moses said: “I don’t want Canaan without you. I don’t want an angel to guide us. I don’t want victory. I don’t want milk and honey. I want You, God.”

ACTION POINT

Is there anything today you want more than God’s presence? Think carefully. If so, then that thing—whatever or whoever it is—is an idol. Abandon it. Dismantle that idol’s altar in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers