Exodus 33:18-23 "Moses said, 'Show me your glory, I pray.' And he said, 'I will make all my..."

"Moses said, 'Show me your glory, I pray.' And he said, 'I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name 'The Lord'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.' And the Lord continued, 'See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen" (Exodus 33:18-23).

Question:

I'm curious about the "Face of God.” "Show me your face" … I feel the face of God is within each and every one of us. I see the face of God in the oppressed, those who are hungry for spiritual food. Are we so blind that we cannot see the "face of God"? Can we not feel the presence of the Glory of the Lord, especially when we are still and listen and through faith and love we can receive the Presence of the Lord from within, joy … and then we know we are favored.
 

Comment:

Your perceptions are clear and valid, and I don't think this passage from Exodus negates your understanding in any way. Moses has been “negotiating” with God—lecturing him, even, on how to do his job. If you want me to lead these people to their Promised Land, he says in effect, then you have to stay with us every step of the way. Everyone has to know that you are with us, and that I am speaking for you. God agrees. Moses pushes on. If you want me to do this, then I need to see you—to see your face. 'You cannot see my face,' the Lord explains, 'for no one shall see me and live.' What can this mean? Moses is a spiritual being—as are we all—and as expressions of God, spiritual beings cannot 'die.' Our innate Oneness with God cannot be ended. The only thing that can die is our human experience. So what I think the Voice for God is saying is that we cannot directly see—or experience—our spiritual Truth and remain within this limited human experience. Moses has a role to play in this human experience—as we all do—and so he can't directly “see” the face of God until his human purpose is complete. But what he can see—what we all can see—is the “back” of God—we can see God in the impact the Presence and Power make in the world around us. What we see in, as you say, the faces of the oppressed, or the joy of children, or the beauty of the world, is not the face of God, but the evidence of God's Presence. When we recognize that evidence and appreciate it with love and gratitude, we are lifting our collective consciousness closer to the day when we do, indeed, find ourselves “face to face” with our spiritual Source.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed