LOOKING DOWN?
Or Looking Around?
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” Exodus 33:12–15
REFLECTION
God calls Moses the most humble man on earth in Numbers 12, and this passage makes that pretty easy to understand. God talks with him face to face, knows him by name, and entrusts him with leading an entire nation. If God did that for me, I know for sure I’d get a case of the big head.
But Moses? Never. He doesn’t use being set apart to set himself apart.
God tells Moses he has found favor with Him, yet Moses never acts like he’s the star and everyone else is just his supporting cast. When God says, “My Presence will go with you,” Moses immediately answers, “If Your Presence does not go with us…” Us. Not just me. Not just the leader. Me and Your people.
Moses understood something we can easily forget: God’s favor wasn’t meant to highlight his importance. It was meant to draw him closer to God and closer to the people God had entrusted to him.
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I know how easy it is to take a blessing God has given me and let it create distance instead of drawing me closer to the people around me. And that’s where pride can sneak in — not usually in some obvious, “Look how great I am” kind of way. Most of us aren’t walking around thinking we’re better than everyone else. It’s much more subtle than that. We can start taking something God has given us — a gift, a relationship, an opportunity, or even knowledge — and slowly let it make us feel a little more important instead of a little more responsible to love and serve others. Instead of standing beside people, in our minds we start standing a little above them.
I’m thinking of that person who always seems to know everybody. There’s one in every crowd. The one with the right name for every situation and a connection for every problem.
Now, knowing people and having influence aren’t bad things. Those can be gifts from God. But what do we do with what He puts in our hands?
We could use those connections to make sure everyone knows who we know and how important we are. Or we could turn around and say, “Let me introduce you.” We could use what we have to draw attention to ourselves, or we could use it to open a door for someone else.
Stand over? Or stand with?
That’s what Moses shows us. God’s favor didn’t make him forget who he was. It reminded him who he belonged to. He wasn’t different from the people he led because he was better than them. He was different because God had called him — and that calling was meant to serve them.
The closer Moses was to God, the less he saw himself as separate from the people. God’s presence didn’t make him look down; it made him look around.
Could it be that one of the clearest ways we know we’re close to God is realizing we’re all the same kind of different? We’re all people who need His Presence. The things He places in our hands — our gifts, our opportunities, our relationships, our influence — aren’t meant to make us legends in our own minds. They’re meant to help us love people, serve people, and walk beside them.
Standing over? Or standing with?
