In Exodus 32-33, the Israelites were waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain with the Law and what God intended for them to do. Instead of being patient and remaining in awe of God’s incredible glory and power, they quickly succumbed to the temptation of worldliness and idolatry. This caused them to sin greatly and worship a golden calf instead of the one true God. As a result, God’s intense anger burned against them, and the only thing standing between them and total destruction was Moses’ pleas.

God abstained from removing Israel from the map and making Moses’ line His new nation, but He told Moses that He would send angels instead of His own presence to guide the Israelites to the promised land. Instead of God in the cloud, it would be His angels. Instead of God in the camp, it would just be His angels. In this passage in Exodus 33, you can feel the hurt, anger, and sadness in God’s voice. Israel’s actions had caused separation between Him and His Chosen. He did not want it to be this way. 

Moses, however, took a stand. He refused to go one step farther without God Himself among them. He made his case, and God agreed. God would go forth with them. It would be God Himself that led the Israelites to the promised land.

God remained in the camp. Now, there were many preparations and ceremonies that needed to take place to make this possible. God needed the Holy of Holies to be in the Israelites' presence. 

And this is the Good News. God has allowed all of us to be in His presence. He sent his Son to be the final sacrifice. Here’s what we need to remember: God’s true desire is to be in our presence. With Jesus, we can be in His presence wherever we are, in our homes and in our businesses. Strahan Coleman wrote a song with the lyric, “Alone is impossible, alone is death, but even then, never alone.”

Take that encouragement to be bold in your faith, knowing that, thanks to Christ, there is no such thing as “alone.”