So Much Harder

Exodus 34:28
So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

compare with

Exodus 31:18
And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

The first time through the commandments, God wrote them and Moses just listened.  After reacting to the Golden Calf by throwing down the tablets, God had Moses come back up to 'get another copy;' the only trouble was, this time it was Moses that had to do the writing.

When we do it our way instead of God's way, it's often much more difficult

Knowing Names

Exodus 33:17-19
And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 

There is nothing more amazing than knowing that God knows me by name, and that He desires for me to know Him with that same profound intimacy.

Dear Lord,
Help me to be open to You so that you can know me "by name" - and develop in me a sense of Your name (who You truly are).

My Tent of Meeting

Exodus 33:7
Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.  And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tend of meeting, which was outside the camp.

Where is my tent of meeting?  Do I have a place set aside for worship that is "far off from the camp" of my daily worries and busyness?  If Moses had such a place - - how much more would I need one.

Dear Lord,
Please help me establish a "tent of meeting" within my heart, so that I may seek you in the midst of my busy world.

How to Pray

Exodus 32:11-14

Moses was pleading for his people as the Lord had said He was going to destroy them (after the golden calf incident).  Moses' prayer is quite unique, and a good reminder of what our prayers are to look like today.

Reminding God of who He is, isn't for His benefit - it's for mine.