Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.” (Exodus 33:1-3, NIV 1984).
My Musings – These “stiff-necked people,” had sinned greatly, by worshipping an idol. Not unlike the “Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites” that God would send His “angel before you and drive out.” But He had sworn an “oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give [the land] to [their] descendants.'”
God always keeps His unconditional promises. “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.'” (Hebrews 6:13–14, NIV 1984). These “stiff-necked people” were Abraham’s descendants and God was sending them to land He promised, a land “flowing with milk and honey.”
“But I will not go with you.” This greatly distressed the Israelites. “By day the Lord [had gone] ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night [had ever] left its place in front of the people.” (Exodus 13:20–22, NIV 1984). And they had witnessed His mighty power when He destroyed the Egyptian army. Sending an angel before them might be good, but it was not God.
This greatly distressed Moses too. Moses said to [God], ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.'” (Exodus 33:15–17, NIV 1984).
My Advice – Things have not changed much. God’s people still mess up, and sometimes it is hard to distinguish them from the rest of the world. When this happens, He is not pleased with His people. Yet, He still “[goes] with them.” He promised He would. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, NIV 1984). For, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.” (John 14:16–18, NIV 1984).
Why would He do this, when we too can be “stiff-necked people” on occasion? Because “I know you by [My Son’s name] – Christian. But how will others know? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34, NIV 1984).
But let’s try not to be stiff-necked and disobedient. That causes “all men” who are not called by His Son’s name to doubt our own calling and the message we are commissioned to proclaim. And as noted, God is not pleased when we mess up either. So, if we continue to be stiff-necked, He will discipline us. “Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:6, 11, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 