"As Moses descended from Mount Sinai... he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him...whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, and the Israelites would see that Moses' face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord." - Exerts from Exodus 34:29-35
This is one of my favourite passages in the entire Bible because of this connotation that Moses' face was radiant after spending time with God. God's love and goodness and grace was so overpowering that it shown in Moses' face and it says that the Israelites were frightened.
They were frightened because God was revealed in Moses' face.
Does God shine through in our faces when we spend time with Him? As I come into society after a precious encounter with God, whether that be through a worship service in a church or a sweet time spent with God alone, can others see on my face that something is different?
Shouldn't our interactions with Jesus change and alter us so that others can see it?
When we come into our great God's presence with fear and trembling, we should come with an expectation that Jesus will rock our world and alter us, so much so that others will stop and stare, wondering what has made us shine.
All too often we come into our Father's presence and think, "Let's just get this over with," and miss the precious time to just be in our Creator's presence. We miss Him and we leave no different than we went in.
Earlier in Exodus, Moses meets God through a burning bush and God tells Moses to remove his shoes.
"When the Lord saw that he [Moses] had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, 'Moses!' 'Here I am', he answered. 'Do not come closer. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground'... Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God." - Exerts from Exodus 3:4-6
Maybe one reason we have lost this shine on our faces is because we have lost this respect for being in our God's presence.
There's a song by Nichole Nordeman called "Tremble". In the chorus, she sings, "Let me not forget to tremble / Face down / on the ground / Do I dare to take the liberty to stare at You?"
This attitude of reverence and awe of God is what we should have when we interact with the Lord and creator of all things.
When I enter into His presence and worship Him with awe and trembling, I feel His mercy, grace, and love being poured out on me as He washes over me.
And when I leave this place of awe, I leave knowing that I had a holy and wonderous interaction with the One Who created me.
And this makes my face shine as a reflection of my Jesus.
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