Exodus 33 - The God Addiction
What is your basic want in life? Select one of the following questions and give your answer to the group: What do I consider to be the goal of my life? What would it mean for me to do something really significant? When it’s all over, what do I hope I will have accomplished? What do I want for my epitaph?
Read Exodus 33:1-6. Biblical writers often repeat information to emphasize a point. What information is repeated in these verses? Given the flow of Exodus, why is this such a devastating problem? See Exodus 3:12; 19:4; 25:8 for further insight.
Read Exodus 33:7-11. What affect does God’s presence have on the people? Is there a parallel for the New Testament believer’s experience?
Why do you think Moses sets up the tent ‘far off from the camp’ (v7)? Why is the soon-to-be tabernacle able to be set up ‘in their midst’ (Exodus 25:8)? What do these arrangements tell us about God’s holiness?
In Exodus 33:18, Moses asks to see God’s ‘glory.’ God responds with a qualified ‘yes.’ He will hide Moses in a safe place and let his glory ‘pass by’. What do you think Moses was thinking and feeling as he prepared for this momentous event?
Read 2 Peter 3:18 and 1 John 3:2. What do these verses tell us about Christ’s role in our own meetings with God? How does the hope of seeing him ‘purify us’?
MISSIONAL MOMENT: Ask your group members to bring donations of plastic Easter Eggs and individually wrapped pieces of candy to VBCC by the end of this week (if they have not already done so). We will need a minimum of 500 candy filled eggs for each of the VBCC Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunts. Pray for each of the VBCC sponsored Easter Egg Hunts.
Some questions adapted from:
Newkirk, Matthew R.. Exodus: A 12-Week Study (Knowing the Bible) . Crossway.
Aronis, Alex B.. Developing Intimacy with God. AuthorHouse.