Exodus 34:29-35

“And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.” (Exodus 34:29 NAS)
For the fifth time Moses went up on the mountain to speak with God (Ex. 34:4) and we have one of the greatest descriptions of God in all of the Scriptures in verse 6-7:

“God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness and truth, who keeps loving-kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin…”

It is this God that Moses met with.  He was gone 40 days and 40 nights (34:28), he did not eat or drink anything (v. 28) and he brought down, for the second time, a set of tablets that had the 10 Words (also known as the 10 commandments) to the people.  However, one of the most unusual observations about this experience was that Moses himself was different this time:

“And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.” (Exodus 34:29-30 NAS)
The text goes on to describe an unusual effect:

“But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.” (Exo 34:34-35 NAS)
Here are some things that strike me about this experience:

1. When Moses spent time with God he was different when he emerged.
His face shone and it was obvious to everyone that something was very different about him. I wonder if there is anything different that anyone sees in your life from having spent time with the Lord?

2. Moses experience involved two critical elements – the presence of God and the Word of God.
When we meet with God there is a need for us to experience God personally but we must also understand how He has revealed Himself to us. Moses came down the mountain “and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain” – v. 29. When we truly spend genuine, transparent time with God the inevitable evidence of that experience is that we have a greater grip on the Word of God. A person who says that they have a great prayer life but neglects the Word in their life is fooling themselves. It is impossible to have a love for God without having a love (and strong grip) on the Word of God. How is your prayer life? How is your time in the Word of God? 

3. Moses spent a long time with God.
He was up there with God for forty days and nights. While our first response might gush – that is ridiculous!  – it is impressive. In our world of “run, run, run” and “no time for anything” we tend to boast about quality time with God rather than quantity of time. Obviously there is a strong argument for having quality time with God. But it is really hard for the residual affects of His glory to radiate from our life if our face is constantly stuck in front of a television, or phone, or computer doing other things.  I know… most of you would say after 40 days we would be bored to death; after all how much time can you do any one thing (even half that time) without getting bored silly.  All I can say is that probably says more about us than it does about God.  If your face could radiate the image of what you spend the most time focused on from day to day, what image would people see reflected from your face / your life when they greeted you each day? 

4. Moses was sustained, nourished and provided for by God’s presence.
Now it may be hard to figure out how this works, and apparently Moses did not collapse in a heap after 40 days without food (v. 28), but remember, Jesus said an interesting thing to Satan when the devil tried to temp him to turn stones into bread. Do you remember His words? “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy  8:3; Matthew 4:4).  I am sure Moses could have used a leg of lamb, well-done, with a side of potatoes when he came down from being with God. But many of us need to change our eating habits. We can pack a lot of physical food away and because of lack of exercise we radiate a different kind of image… If we spent as much time feeding our spirit with God’s Word and engaged some spiritual exercise, we could transform our communities single handed. Are you feeding your soul and getting enough spiritual exercise to, not only stay healthy but, be a full participant of a life of faith?

This could go awhile and some may have stopped reading long before the end so I will leave with one last thought:

If we really valued, and were personally engaging, the God described in verse 6-7 (like Moses), how can our lives not be changed if we are spending any real quality or quantity of time with him?  Are you changing because of your time with God? 

Pastor Brad