Once, God gave Moses a very precious promise. God promised His servant that He shall go in front of them, while the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness. More than that, God told Moses a phrase which contained, probably, the most precious promises that God has ever given to people. God almighty told Moses, “… you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
In other words, God said to Moses, “You are not like everyone else, I have a special plan for you, I have given you a special grace, I am well pleased with you. Among all the people I have a personal relationship with you, you are not in a crowd of people walking in the desert, I know you by name. I know what you are going through, your dreams, goals, and aspirations. It is very important for Me to communicate with you as a person.”
The meaning of someone’s name, especially in the Old Testament, is much more important that in today’s times. In ancient times, the name was considered as the heritage being passed down for many centuries. That is why after twenty-eight generations after King David, Christ is still called the son of David.
So when God told Moses that He knows him by name, it meant that God was not only close to him and knowing everything about him, but that all of his genealogy after him will be blessed and feel the presence of God.
When God gave Moses this great promise, that He will always have a special relationship with him and his descendants; scripture tells us that Moses said, “Show me your glory” (Ex 33:18). Instead of accepting the promise given to him and be content, Moses took it and used it to achieve much greater goals. In other words, Moses was not satisfied knowing that God is always with him, that God knows him by name, and even knows every beat of his heart.
Moses wanted something greater! He wanted to see who gave him this promise. So he takes the promise and on this premise asks God to open his spiritual eyes to be able to see God!
Here is the request Moses made to God: Lord, you said that You delighted in me, you know all my needs, desires, and aspirations, you are much closer to me than my own breath; You know the number of hairs on my head, even the number of times my heart beats.
If this is so, and You are as close to me as You say, then let me see Your glory. I not only want to know that You are nearby, but I also want to see You! I want You to open my spiritual eyes!
How often do we stop when we reach our goal? Having received God’s promise, we often feel like we have arrived. We forget that it was given to us in order to achieve higher goals, so that we could forget the past and push forward growing from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from promise to promise.
God’s promises are given to us not merely just to enjoy them. God gave them to us so we can use them to achieve higher goals and purposes.
Pavel Gurzhiy