Exodus 33: God's Presence Is Your True Rest

Introduction

For this Thanksgiving Sunday at Arun Church, Becca starts with a simple question: what are you thankful for? Her own answer fits in a few words: the presence of God. "It's the most extraordinary gift we've been given in the whole world."

She opens Exodus 33, starting at verse 7. After the golden calf, Moses pitches a tent outside the camp, the Tent of Meeting, where Yahweh speaks to him "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." In this passage, which she calls "pure gold," Becca points out what struck her: Joshua, who never leaves the tent, a promise of rest, and a refusal to move forward without God.

Then, with several images (a radio, a mountain guide, a shepherd, a river), she helps everyone make this unseen presence more concrete.

Outline of the Message

1. The Tent of Meeting, After the Golden Calf

After the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses has a tent, a place to meet with God, "like a temple." He also knows God's presence on the mountain, where God makes a covenant with his people and gives them the Ten Commandments.
Meanwhile, the people grow bored at the foot of the mountain and make a golden calf. Moses breaks the tablets of the law. And he tells God: we won't go anywhere you don't go.
When Moses enters the tent, the pillar of cloud comes down at the entrance and all the people bow down. Yahweh speaks to Moses face to face, the way you speak to a friend. "Don't you think that's an absolutely incredible sentence?"

2. Like Joshua, Don't Leave the Tent

"His servant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, didn't depart out of the Tent" (Exodus 33:11). Everyone else left the tent, except him.
Becca reminds us who Joshua is: the man who will enter the promised land saying there are plenty of giants but everything will be fine, the man who will march around Jericho and see its walls fall. This same man didn't want to leave God's presence.
"Have you ever been somewhere you didn't want to leave, because it's so extraordinary, because it changes your life?" That was God's presence for Joshua.
She smiles: when her grandchildren cry as they leave her house, she is glad, because she wants a joyful, good and free home. Let's be people, she says, who don't want to leave the tent.

3. My Presence Will Go With You, and I Will Give You Rest

God answers Moses: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exodus 33:14). Becca confesses that she often thinks her circumstances will give her stress or rest. The text doesn't say that.
She used to read this passage and think it was beautiful. Today she says: "I have to live it, breathe it, talk about it every day, or I don't know how to survive."
Rest is in God's presence, not in what is happening right now. "Rest is knowing that everything doesn't depend on me."
She connects this passage to Psalm 16:11: in God's presence there is fullness of joy. Not in circumstances, not when everything is going well. We look for peace here and there, but God says it's found in his presence.

4. If Your Presence Doesn't Go With Us, We Won't Leave

Moses replies: "If your presence doesn't go with us, don't carry us up from here" (Exodus 33:15). Becca says the same thing for herself and for her church: "I'm not going anywhere that God's presence doesn't go."
No way to be just a pleasant, friendly community that doesn't seek God's presence with all its strength. "He is the boss."
Moses goes further and asks: "Please show me your glory." God makes all his goodness pass before him, puts him in the cleft of the rock and covers him with his hand.

5. A Presence Always There: the Spirit and the Radio

God is everywhere. But his presence is also the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don't go away, the Counselor won't come to you" (John 16:7). We might dream of a day with Jesus, but every day we have a day with the Holy Spirit.
Everyone reaches it differently. For Becca, it's music and worship, where her attention is fixed on God, and nature: walking on the beach, looking at the sky and the sea. God's presence isn't always felt, but she knows it's there when she worships.
Her image: a radio station that is playing right now. Someone is talking, music is playing, but we don't hear it because we're not on the right frequency. God's presence is available to every person, it is playing now.
Many tune in on Sunday, then move on to something else for the rest of the week. "What would happen if we were tuned in every day, all day long?" God is always speaking, whether we are listening or not.

6. A Presence That Changes Everything: the Mountain Guide

A person's presence makes a difference. Becca sees it in her home: each of her children brought a different presence there, and her daughter, the last to leave, made a difference simply by living there. A presence can inspire fear, loneliness or discouragement, or on the contrary joy and hope. She and her husband don't talk all the time, but being together changes something.
Picture a huge mountain in front of you. "I'm 56, I'm not fit enough, I've never climbed, I don't have the gear." But if you are with a master mountaineer who has made this climb hundreds of times, you set out with him. And when you can't go on, he carries you on his back.
The same goes for a plane that has to land: on her own, she would crash; with an experienced pilot next to her, she makes it. Whatever you are facing, you are with someone who has been through it before you and who will carry you when you don't know how.

7. Yahweh Is My Shepherd, the Spirit Leads Us

In a book on Psalm 23 that she was given, Becca was struck by the first word: "Yahweh is my shepherd." We rush to the image of the shepherd, but it's the Lord of everything, the King of the universe, who is your personal shepherd.
"Your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4). We think of the staff that brings back the stray sheep, but the other one is a weapon: it's used to strike wild animals. The shepherd defends you.
"The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). Her flesh often cries out: "I'm tired, I'm alone, give up, Becca, lie down and give up." Emotions are good and are signals worth listening to, but we aren't led by them: we are led by the Spirit of God.
She quotes Elisabeth Elliot: whatever dark tunnel we are walking through, God has been through it; faith isn't just feeling good about God, it's the conscious choice, even with no feelings at all, to obey his word when he says: trust me.
Last image, the river: "There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad" (Psalm 46:4). God invites everyone to jump into the river of his presence. Becca closes by praying for those facing a mountain or suffering, and for a hunger for God rather than for comfort: a hunger to pray, to fast, to see revival and transformed lives.

Key Takeaways

The greatest thing to be thankful for is God's presence, available to everyone through the Holy Spirit.
Like Joshua, who never left the tent, the strength to face giants comes from time spent in God's presence.
Rest doesn't come from circumstances but from God's presence: everything doesn't depend on you.
God is always speaking; the question is whether you are tuned in to him only on Sunday or every day.
You are not led by your emotions but by the Spirit, and your shepherd is the Lord of everything, who knows the way.

Personal Application

What are you thankful for today, and is God's presence part of your answer?
Where are you looking for rest right now: in your circumstances or in God's presence?
What helps you tune in to God (worship, nature, the Word), and how can you do it every day, not just on Sunday?
What mountain stands in front of you, and what difference does it make to climb it with the one who knows the way?
In what area are you letting your tiredness or your emotions lead you rather than the Spirit?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why didn't Joshua leave the Tent of Meeting?

Exodus 33:11 says that Joshua, Moses' young servant, didn't depart out of the tent. For Becca, Joshua didn't want to leave God's presence. This is the same man who saw the walls of Jericho fall: he spent his life in the tent, in God's presence.

Where can you find rest according to Exodus 33:14?

God tells Moses: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Rest doesn't come from circumstances but from God's presence. Becca sums it up this way: to rest is to know that everything doesn't depend on you.

How can you live in God's presence every day?

Becca compares God's presence to a radio station that is always playing: the question is whether you tune in, on Sunday only or every day. For her, worship and nature help her tune in to God, and the Holy Spirit makes this presence available to everyone.