They chained and nailed their god Apollo to a post – Thomas Brooks
“Moses said unto God If Your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here!” Exodus 33:15
Nothing would satisfy Moses, below the presence of God, because he knew that it would be better that they should never move a foot farther as to go on without God’s favorable presence.
God promised that His angel would drive all their enemies out of the land. “Oh, but if Your presence does not go with us do not send us up from here!”
“Yes, but I will bring the necks of all your proud, stout, strong, and subtle enemies under your feet!” “Oh, but if Your presence does not go with us do not send us up from here!”
“Yes, but I will bring you to a land flowing with milk and honey. I will make you to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; and you shall drink the finest wine!” “Oh, but if Your presence does not go with us do not send us up from here!”
“Yes, but I will bring you to the paradise of the world to a place of pleasure and delight, to Canaan, a type of heaven!” “Oh, but if Your presence does not go with us do not send us up from here! O Lord, if I might have my wish, my desire, my choice I had infinitely rather to live in a barren, howling wilderness with Your presence than in Canaan without it! It is a mercy to have an angel to guard us, it is a mercy to have our enemies sprawling under our feet, it is a mercy to be brought into a pleasant land. Oh, but if Your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here! Lord, nothing will please us, nothing will profit us, nothing will secure us, nothing will satisfy us without Your presence!”
I have read of the Tyrians, that they bound their gods with chains that they might secure them, and not be conquered by their enemies. And among the rest, they chained and nailed their god Apollo to a post that they might be sure to keep their idol, because they thought their safety was in it.
I am sure of this that our safety, our comfort, our all lies in the special presence of God with us! Therefore let us, by faith and prayer chain God to our self! If we let Him go, a thousand worlds cannot make up His absence!
The heathens in Troy imagined that so long as their idol was kept safe, they were unconquerable; all the strength and power of Greece would never be able to prevail against them. Therefore the Grecians sought by all the means they could to get this idol from them.
O my friends, so long as you keep the presence of God with you I am sure you are unconquerable! But if God withdraws His special presence the weakest enemy will be too hard for you; yes, wounded men will prevail over you!
The burning bush, which was a type of the Church, was not consumed because God was in the midst of it. Oh, do but keep God’s special presence with you and nothing shall hurt you, nothing shall burn you! But if God’s special presence departs nothing can secure you!
“Moses said unto God If Your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here!” Exodus 33:15