Wondered by the Word — The Bible in a YearSample

The Favor of God

Key Verse: Exodus 33:12-23

God’s favor: how desperate we all want his unmerited kindness. Moses wanted it, too. In fact, in Exodus 33, it was singularly on his mind. So much so that the word favor is mentioned five times in this passage. Moses wanted God’s favor, and he wanted to know how he and the nation of Israel could be confident of it in their journey.

I pray for God’s favor every day, and yet, most days I feel so far from it. I find ways to try and earn it—I, too, often operate from a works-based mentality. But God’s favor is an act of grace, undeserving and yet beautifully blanketed on the sinners that we are.

With Moses, God responded to the leader’s ask for favor with a gentle and loving response that applies to your life today. And it wasn’t works-based, as I often default to, but it was grace-based. God essentially said, “I know you intimately, Moses. And I’ll show you just how much.”

What’s fascinating is that when Moses was basically told to ask whatever he desired to prove God’s favor, he didn’t ask for riches or more power or anything of this world. Moses wanted to see God firsthand.

Too often, I want God’s favor over my life to manifest in physical and tangible ways. I want ease in my relationships, abundance in ministry, and provision to do it all. But what if God’s favor was found not in the observable but the intimate? Indeed, I think it is.

You likely desire God’s favor, and that’s no bad thing to desire. But you must ask yourself today this question: do I simply want the outward manifestation of blessing, or do I want to know my Creator deeply and intimately in a way that overflows into the rest of my life?

There’s no formula to God’s favor, my friend. But if there’s one thing I’m learning, it’s that favor is found the more intimately I press into my sweet Jesus.

(Written by Brittany Rust)