Exodus 33:18

Shew me thy glory. Though God had graciously answered his prayers in behalf of Israel, Moses longed for further evidence of divine favor. He had already been in the very presence of God on repeated occasions, but a solemn realization of the task that was his made him feel the need of an even closer fellowship with God. This led to a request that no man had made hitherto, something Moses felt would be a strength to him in his appointed task. He had asked much for his people; it was not inappropriate that he should now ask for himself assurance that his labors would meet with success. He knew well that no earthly power could take the place of God’s abiding presence and of the knowledge that comes from personal fellowship with Him (Jer. 9:23, 24).

Too often it is a guilty conscience that makes us shrink from the presence of the Lord of life. So it was with our first parents when they “hid themselves” (Gen. 3:8). It was because the life of Moses was in harmony with the will of his Maker that he stood in the presence of the Lord and was not afraid. The more a man knows of God, the more he longs to know. In the divine presence there is “fullness of joy,” and at His “right hand” there are “pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).