Exodus 33-34 is a place of wonder for me. I am sounding old… and I realize it’s because I AM… but I begin sentences with: “Back in the day…”

I catch myself and then realize, well, yes, they were “back in the day.”

“Back in the day” of the Brownsville Revival, there were certain elements of the revival that drew me. I have never been an “either/or” kind of person when it comes to the pursuit of God. I believe the affections of Christ are experienced as well as “taught.” We have a body of knowledge, but the Lord also allows us to experience his presence. It’s a gift. It’s not about the experience. I don’t chase the experience.

But Brownsville was a time of experience and hunger. Exodus 33-34 played an intricate part in that time period for me. It continues to do so even today.

Certainly there is the experience of God’s presence. In 33:11 Moses would speak with the Lord “face to face.” They were in an open conversation. Nothing was hidden from God about Moses and it was an experience where Moses knew he was fully exposed.

The presence of the Lord mattered to Moses. That presence needed to be with Israel. Moses was unwilling to move the camp without the promise of the presence of God. It wasn’t just for his selfish experience. He knew the presence of the Lord had to go before Israel. The people needed the Lord as well, even if they didn’t recognize it.

And with the experience, Moses had to go deeper. This is what keeps me fascinated with these chapters. Moses wanted to know the ways of God (31:13). This was beyond experience. It is the cry of the psalmist in Psalm 25:4

Show me your ways! Teach me your paths.

Moses knew the ways of God. Israel knew the action of God.

Israel knew “the what” of God. Moses knew the why of God’s actions.

The experience is a gift. Moses asked to see God’s glory and he was gifted with a partial revealing of an experience. But deeper in Moses was what needs to well up from my own heart: “I need to know your ways. Teach me.”

This draws me into the affections of Christ. I am grateful for powerful experiences with Christ in prayer. Yet, what I long for more is a deeper revealing of the character of Christ.

Here is the beauty of the affections of Christ: I don’t have to ask for either an experience with Christ or a chance to know him more intellectually. It’s both. Why not both? I can have a lifetime of learning the ways of Christ and along the way have experiences of his presence. He doesn’t hold his hands out to me and say, “Pick one.”

God reaches out and says, “Here.”

I learned from Brownsville not to chase experiences. I saw people do that and years after the revival, all those folks were doing was drifting from church to church looking for that “feeling” and not finding it.

I cherish the encounters with God. And I spend the rest of my life in a holy pursuit. A pursuit of his character, his nature, his goodness… his ways.

The affections of Christ don’t make me choose experiences or knowledge. With Christ, his abundance allows for it all.