My Presence Shall Go With Thee

Handley Moule was the first Principal of Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge and then Bishop of Durham from 1901 to 1920.  He was closely associated with the setting up of the Keswick Convention and the author of many books.  The following is from Thoughts for Sundays:

My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest--Ex. 33:14.

"How pregnant, how profound, are the terms of that assurance [to Moses from God]!  The anxious man, encountering the difficult and the unknown, is to have with him in it the eternal Presence, and is to enjoy not only support and assistance but a wonderful Rest.

"'My Presence'; literally, 'My Face'.  He was to have always with him a personal Companionship.  He was to hold converse face to Face, eye to Eye, with One who was strong enough to meet all his demands for guidance, succor and strength.

"What he should enjoy should be no more superintendence, as from a distant heaven.  An everlasting Friend should travel with him along the desert, and sit with him in his tent, and accompany him to the council, and to the seat of justice, and amidst the rebellious concourse, and to the field of battle with heathen foes, giants and others, when the time should come. 

"He should experience the infinite difference of never being alone, never without a personal Presence, perfectly sympathetic, and at the same time almighty.

"'I will give thee Rest.'  There are two possible sorts of rest.  One is rest after toil, the lying down of the weary, at the end of the march, on the morrow of the battle, on the summit of the hill,  The other is rest in toil, the internal and deep repose and liberty of a spirit which has found a hidden refuge and retreat, where feeling is calm and disengaged, while the march, the battle, the climb, are still in full course.  This last was the promise to Moses.

"Another day, a distant day, was to come when he should taste the endless rest after toil, when he should sink down on Pisgah in the arms of the Lord and (to quote the beautiful legendary phrase) should die--if death it could be called--by His kiss.   But now he was to taste the wonderful rest in toil.  He was to traverse that last long third of his vast and memorable life, thinking, ruling, guiding, bearing, under the divine enabling condition of the inward rest of God, the peace of God, passing understanding.

"Today, looking out upon the new year and the new age, let us humbly claim the promise of Moses for ourselves.  We may do so.  For 'he that is least in the kingdom of heaven' has, in the Lord Jesus, a guaranteed assurance of nothing less.  'Lo, I am with you all the days' (Matt. 28:20).  'We have access into the holiest' (Heb. 10:10).  'The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus' (Phil 4:7).

"'E'en let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may,' while that promise is in our grasp.  It may bring with it surprises of earthly joy, personal or domestic.  It may bring unlooked for clearing away of dark public prospects, in state or in church.  Or it may bring clouds, and storm, and conflict, and what looks like confusion.  But if the Presence goes with us we shall, in either event, have the Rest.  Our life's week will have at its heart a perpetual Sabbath, on the way to the great and perfect 'Sabbath-keeping which remaineth for the people of God' (see Heb. 4:9)."