“Please, show me your glory” Day 1, "21 Days of Glory"

OK – so what is the glory of God? It’s a big idea. It’s multi-dimensional and there’s a bazillion aspects to explore. From what I’ve studied and experienced, I would summarize that God’s glory seems to be a revelation of His essence. But what does that mean? A helpful place to start might be the encounter Moses has with God in Exodus 33 & 34.  My first take away – God reveals His glory through relationship.

 “Please, show me your glory” Moses urgently asks in Exodus 33:18

God is into relationships. He IS a relationship – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And God continually invites us into this Triune relationship. One thing I’ve learned is that relationships take work. The more you put into one, the more you’ll get out of it. Moses seems to desire a deeper relationship.

He was bold. The King James translation is “I beseech thee, shew me see thy glory.” CH Spurgeon thinks this is the greatest request a man could make of God. Moses should have been filled with fear and trembling, and he probably was. Yet he was also full of courage because he had a history of being with God. Matthew Henry comments that “Moses had lately been in the mount with God … and had enjoyed as intimate a communion with God as ever any man had on this side heaven; and yet he is still desiring a further acquaintance.”

Moses had connection, he was in the flow, experiencing the presence and power of God in amazing ways. The Almighty was acting supernaturally with miraculous signs and wonders, yet He talked to Moses face to face, as a friend (Ex 33:11).  Still, Moses' heart desired more of God, he was not satisfied and he was not fearful. He was hungry for increase, for the fullness of God in everything.

 So God answers – “OK, but you can’t handle it.”

 19 The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. 20 But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” Ex 33:19-20 (NLT)

God declares His supernatural power through the proclamation of His name “Yahweh”, and it’s a mind blowing display (we’ll unpack more of that later). But to Moses He also emphasizes His mercy and compassion. It seems that God wants us to understand that although He lives in “unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16), and no one can see Him and live - nonetheless, He is approachable if we come to Him on His terms.  He is passionate for a love relationship.

God’s terms? Receive His mercy, believe He is gracious and compassionate. Demonstrate that by humble repentance and a life committed to walking with God through Jesus Christ. From the Garden of Eden until now, we have an adversary - the devil, who wants to distort our understanding of God. This enemy of all humanity wants to keep us running far away from the Lord.  But God’s character, his essence, his glory – is to show mercy. Like Moses we can boldly come close to Him,  so “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).

Drawing close to God, being touched by Him – changes everything. Godfrey Birtill has a great song “Just one touch of the King, changes everything.”  The glory of God literally changed Moses’ face so that it glowed, it shined, it was radiant. This is a goal all believers can have, that the glory of God would reflect off our very beings.

This is one of my goals for the 21 days, to cultivate a bright spirit. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

What I've learned so far -  the starting place for experiencing God’s glory is through relationship, drawing close to God begins by receiving His mercy and compassion.

Prayer:

 Father, today, I long to experience your glory, your presence - by contemplating on your mercy, your generosity, your  disposition to forgive,  your longing to renew. Thank you that you desire intimacy and closeness. Like Moses, please show me your glory. In Jesus name, Amen.

"21 Days of Glory" is an exploration of the glory of God - March 1 - March 21. I’m sharing what I learn along the way. 

Comments

[Jonathan Riggs]

Thanks for the reminder, Rob. May we all cultivate this bright spirit.