Thousands of years ago Moses raised a standard for ministry that placed grace at the center of a growing relationship with God. “Show me your way,” Moses said. “That I may know you and find grace.” It was not enough for Moses to hear God say “you have found grace in my eyes.” He wanted to move into the reality of it. This looks something like the believers who gathered in the Upper Room to pray and wait for the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:48). It was not enough for the disciples to have walked with Jesus before His ascension, they needed to be “clothed” with the Spirit of Christ in order to fulfill God’s work in their generation.

Moses, in his day, elevated the meaning and reality of the grace of God. While grace in Noah’s life indicated divine favor because of his upright lifestyle, grace in Moses’ life became a force based on the strong relationship he cultivated with God. Again, Moses sought for more than raw power to do a job, he wanted to do his work through grace, which he understood as the active presence of God.