Moses' Shining Face

Continuing Forty Days on the Mountain  Meditations on Knowing God by Stephen E. Smallman, today's devotion was titled "Moses' Shining Face". Just seeing the title conjured up thoughts of learning to more effectively show God's love in my life and my being. I've heard many sermons, lessons, and devotions on this topic and while they are all rather similar I always enjoy hearing a fresh perspective and having a nice reminder. Today's study, covering Exodus 34, was no exception.

Firstly, I liked that Smallman pointed out the fact that the Bible says Moses came down with "the two tablets of the Testimony". Being a word lover, I looked up the definition of testimony to make sure I grasped the word and the meaning behind it properly.

Testimony: Evidence in support of a fact or statement. Proof. 

It wasn't just a few words written out, it was evidence, proof. The devotion says "God bears witness to His person and Will through the written Word."

Secondly I liked the comment Smallman made regarding Moses... "Without consciously trying to do so, he was reflecting to the people something of 'all of the goodness' of God". I like that he says 'without consciously trying' - which is how we, as Christians, should live. We should reflect God in ways that don't even make it to our conscious thoughts. Sure, we consciously make the right decisions, avoid sin, love others, etc... But God's Word should be so instilled into us, into who we are, that we reflect God in ways that don't have to go through our cognition. I want people to SEE God in me, on my face, in my smile, in my actions, hear Him in my words, and know that He is with me even when I'm not thinking about it. Even when displaying the attributes of God aren't necessarily in the forefront of my mind...

Lastly, Smallman points out that verses 33-35 show that Moses "regularly returned to the presence of God so that his radiance was constantly being renewed."

It's so easy to read that and say 'well, if I had that kind of experience with God I would certainly want to go back for more.' Who can blame Moses after such a life changing experience? But we fail to do that ourselves. Through the Holy Spirit and Jesus' sacrifice, we have such an opportunity to speak with Him and pursue Him and yet we fail to do so. We allow earthly things to fill us instead of God and fail to pursue Him and His presence. We need to find way to regularly renew ourselves in Christ so our actions, our words, and our lives and shine as Moses' face did.