12 And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

When God said that He would lead the Israelites indirectly, by the hand of an angel, and that He would personally be removed from them, the people had become despondent. So now Moses spoke for them, presenting their plea to the Lord. Moses says that he does not know this angel. Moses knows the Lord, and the Lord knows him and calls him by name, and the Lord has said that Moses has His grace. This is an appeal to friendship, to closeness, to trust within a relationship.

But is it an appeal to have God deny justice, to turn a blind eye to the Israelites’ transgression, and restore them to good graces simply for old times’ sake? No. In verse 13 Moses shows great humility as he asks to be shown a “way,” and the opportunity to “find.” He is saying, “we have fallen away from thee, but if there can be a path back to you, we will do the work to follow it.” He is looking for a way that the Israelites can make amends.

This is an excellent example of true penitence. The penitent man does not ask for his wrong to be expunged, he asks for a way to make it right. He does not say, “forget my debt,” he says, “let me work my debt off.” The remarkable thing about God is that often the only price He asks of us is that willingness to do whatever He asks. We become ready to make our journey back to Him, and as soon as we take our first step, we find Him already right there with us. As we will see tomorrow, the same grace occurs in this instance with God and the Israelites, where they will receive forgiveness as soon as they are willing to work for forgiveness.