Exodus 33:11-16 "And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth."
After the idolatry of the people in worshipping the golden calf, God told Moses to take the people into the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, God also said that He would not go up in the midst of them because of their stiffnecked unfaithfulness. At that point, Moses took the Tabernacle and set it up outside the camp. All the children of Israel went out unto the Tabernacle to do so.
When Moses went out to the Tabernacle, the Angel of the LORD (as the cloudy pillar) came and stood at the door. This was visible to all the children of Israel, and they bowed themselves before the LORD in the door of their tents. It is at this point that we take up the scripture. God spoke directly to Moses as one friend would speak to another.
We need to take care here, or we will be tempted to say that the scripture has contradicted itself. In verse eleven it says that God spoke to Moses face to face and later, in verse twenty, God tells Moses that he cannot see God’s face and live. The term “face to face” in verse eleven simply means that Moses heard God’s voice speaking directly to him. It does not indicate that Moses actually saw God’s face.
In this conversation, Moses is very concerned about the fact that God had said He would not go up in the midst of the people. Remember that this was like a conversation between friends. Moses did not want an unidentified angel to go before them (Exodus 33:2). Moses asked the LORD to go up with them if he (Moses) had indeed found grace in God’s sight. Moses said “LORD, I want you to show me your way. I want to know your will directly from you. And I want this nation to continue to be your people.”
Dear ones, no matter what our failings might be, like Moses, we need to be determined not to go without the LORD. This was a trial of Moses’ faith so that he would realize that no matter how bad things seemed, he would not undertake a journey without the LORD. Further, he would not forsake the people that the LORD had given him. Rest assured that we still have the proof today that we have found grace in the LORD’s sight because He goes with us. It is only His presence in our lives that separates us from the world.