“For I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people” (Ex. 33:3b).
Though God promised to make good His covenant with Abraham by giving Israel Canaan, He denied them the extraordinary tokens of His presence, and left them under the common guidance of Moses and His Angel. Refusing to call Israel “My people,” He turned them over to Moses, calling them the people whom “you have brought out of the land of Egypt.” God declared that He would not go with them and graciously dwell in their midst. Instead, He would dwell outside the camp, separated from the impenitent and stiff-necked nation. Because of this distance between God and the people, Israel could depart immediately without building the tabernacle, for what good was a dwelling place for the Lord if He refused to dwell there? From then on, He would meet only with Moses at the tent of meeting outside the camp.
The Israelites had enjoyed a great privilege in having the Shechinah, or an awesome manifestation of God’s presence, in their midst. They should have been more grateful, more cautious, and more obedient, but they were stiff-necked and stubborn. They could no longer enjoy the light of God’s face among them. Justice demanded that they be cut off and consumed, but God showed them mercy by keeping His covenant. Still, they needed to learn to mortify their sin, and until they humbled themselves and obeyed God’s will, they would be deprived of His blessed presence. To be so deprived is to be exposed to the fears and doubts of this world without the encouraging presence of the Lord. Whenever Christians remain stubborn and impenitent, the peace, the comfort, and the assurance that come from God’s presence are absent. King David knew what it was like to have the Lord hide His face, and he knew that the only way to have peace again was to humble himself (Ps. 51).
In the same way, if we want to enjoy the extraordinary tokens of God’s presence, we must not be stiff-necked in our sin. As long as we refuse to repent, to deal with the root of our rebellion, we will be missing a great part of the Christian life—the assurance that comes from close communion with God. Objectively, we remain His children. Subjectively, communion with Him has been disrupted. The only way to restore it is to humble ourselves and repent of our sin.
Do you have any unrepented sin in your life that is keeping you from enjoying the blessings of God’s presence? Do you lack peace in your life? Could this be attributed to unconfessed sin? Spend some time reflecting on your life. Confess any sin to the Lord. Humble yourself and follow God’s ways of handling sin instead of your own.
