Exodus 33:18-23: “Moses responded, ‘Then show me your glorious presence’” (NLT).

In Exodus 33:18-23 (NIV) Moses asks to see God’s face. Sometimes I wonder, “What exactly was Moses asking for?” I mean, what did he want to “see or experience” that he had not already? Moses talked with God. Moses argued with God. Moses had seen God’s power, mercy, values, love, and friendship. What else exactly did Moses want?

With physical hunger, the more I eat the less hungry I become. With physical thirst, when I drink my thirst is quenched. Spiritually, things work in inverse. The more I know him, the more I long to know him more. The more I seek to have my spiritual thirst quenched in him, the thirstier for him I become. With God’s people, so it has always been:

“As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 

     My soul thirsts for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2a).

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,

     As in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

“I want to know Christ…” (Philippians 3:10).

Longing for him more is a sign of those who know him more.

In Exodus 33, God would not allow Moses to see his face. However, in the last few verses of the Bible where it describes how it will all end when we are in heaven, the Spirit says this: “…His servants will worship Him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3b-4).

The longing we may have in our heart for God is homesickness. When we get there, our greatest treasure will be to see his face fully.