Heredity

For most of my life, I have been told that I remind people of my dad, and I consider that to be high praise indeed. When you know several people in the same family, it is easy to pick out physical and character traits that they have I common. If fact, I like to try to identify family units when I am in a large group of people. I normally start by looking at the older people and try to match them up with their relatives. While this is not a foolproof way to pick out relatives, it works most of the time. One thing I have noticed is that, if the group consists of people close to the same age, it is more difficult. Having the parents in the group makes the process easier.

Exodus 33
¹⁵Then Moses said, "If you don't go with us personally, don't let us move a step from this place. ¹⁶If you don't go with us, how will anyone ever know that your people and I have found favor with you? How else will they know we are special and distinct from all other people on the earth?"

Moses and the people have been at the foot of Mount Sinai for some time. God has given them His commandments and the plans for the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. At the beginning of this chapter, God tells Moses that His people are no longer traveling out of Egypt, they are now traveling to the Promised Land, and it is time for them to get ready to move. While Moses is in the Tent of Meeting, he asks God to reveal to him what is going to happen on the journey. God’s response is that Moses is not to worry; God will go with him.

The response of Moses to God’s command to move the people to the Promised Land is an indicator of the closeness of his walk with the Lord. Moses knew that in and of himself, he was nothing. While the people looked to Moses as the one who had lead them out of Egypt, he knew who was really responsible for them getting this far. He also recognized that any further progress would be utterly impossible without the continued direct intervention of God. In spite of all the hardships they had faced up to this point, Moses tells God that he would rather stay right where they were than move forward without Him.

It is interesting to note the reason that Moses gives for desiring that God be with them personally. Given the things He had done so far, one would expect that Moses would be thinking about the protection afforded by God’s presence, or the miracles performed by His hand, but that is not the case. The reason Moses gives is that of identification – he wants to make sure that everyone with whom they come in contact knows that the people belong to God. Moses knows that the mere fact that these people are identified as God’s people will make the way easier.

What a testimony! Moses knows that, if God is with him, others will see the relationship he has with the Father and treat him accordingly. The same is true for us. We sometimes wonder why our witness is not as effective as we would like. The solution may be to make sure we are going where God has already been. When we get ahead of God, the people with whom we are dealing will have difficulty seeing the hereditary traits. We are to be different from the world because we are like Jesus. If we only go where He leads, people will see the family resemblance.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!