DON’T SETTLE FOR LESS!
Exodus 33:2-3 (AMP) I will send an Angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land [of abundance] flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
The Israelites sinned against God by worshiping a golden calf. God didn’t want to be near them, He said, “I will send an Angel before you”. Some Bible translations say, "the Angel of the Lord", which could refer to God Himself, but in this case, it could not have been so as later in the same verse God says, "I will not go up in your midst".
God would still have given them victory over the idol-worshiping nations and they would still have entered into the "land flowing with milk and honey", but an angel would have led them, not God! (What a great picture of how powerful an angel can be!).
Moses understood the difference and he would settle for nothing less than God's presence: Exodus 33:15-18 (NKJV) Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
God's presence would testify to the fact that the Israelites were God's people!
Nothing, not even an angel can compare with God’s presence. Sometimes we pray and then settle for less, we make our own plan or do something that is not fully in line with God’s plan for us and God allows it. This is the difference between God's permissive will and God's perfect will.
Today we are encouraged not to settle for less. If God does not go with us then we stay where we are, it's the way to remain in God's perfect will!
Exodus 33:2-3 (AMP) I will send an Angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land [of abundance] flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
The Israelites sinned against God by worshiping a golden calf. God didn’t want to be near them, He said, “I will send an Angel before you”. Some Bible translations say, "the Angel of the Lord", which could refer to God Himself, but in this case, it could not have been so as later in the same verse God says, "I will not go up in your midst".
God would still have given them victory over the idol-worshiping nations and they would still have entered into the "land flowing with milk and honey", but an angel would have led them, not God! (What a great picture of how powerful an angel can be!).
Moses understood the difference and he would settle for nothing less than God's presence: Exodus 33:15-18 (NKJV) Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
God's presence would testify to the fact that the Israelites were God's people!
Nothing, not even an angel can compare with God’s presence. Sometimes we pray and then settle for less, we make our own plan or do something that is not fully in line with God’s plan for us and God allows it. This is the difference between God's permissive will and God's perfect will.
Today we are encouraged not to settle for less. If God does not go with us then we stay where we are, it's the way to remain in God's perfect will!