"My face shall not be seen"

In Exodus 33:18 (KJV), Moses says to God,

I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

God responds (33:20, KJV),

Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

As discussed in the Life Application Study Bible, because we are finite and morally imperfect, we cannot at the same time exist in our imperfect states and see God. In fact, our earthly perceptions struggle to fathom what "seeing" means in a spiritual sense.

However, God does reveal part of his presence to Moses (33:23, KJV),

Thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

God allows Moses see him as he passes by, which indicates that our finite minds know God by what he does, not by how he "looks."

As humbling as this passage is, I also find it encouraging. Whenever we become frustrated that we don't comprehend God's full plan, and we struggle to sense his full presence, we should recall that Moses, one of the central figures of the entire Bible, and the person who arguably came closest to actually seeing God, also struggled with this same partial revelation.

Our task is to remain humble in prayer, and trust that God's design is greater than ours.