“Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”… Exodus 33:18
I’d like to begin with something my husband, David, wrote ~
“In Exodus thirty-three eighteen, Moses is asking nicely for God to show him His glory. The Lord initially responds in the affirmative and gives a fundamental and profound description of His character. It’s beautiful and full; it just makes a heart soar with trust and hope….but, there’s a but.
BUT- is the first word of verse twenty, and by using that word, He’s just put a limit on His mercy, graciousness and goodness. He said “you CANNOT see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
Without saying God’s mercy, grace and goodness to us all isn’t enough- God forbid anyone ever thought I believed such a thing- let me say that this one verse reminds me that in all of my asking’s of God; even the ones where I just want to know him more intimately, they are still subject to His right to reveal Himself when and how He chooses.
He’s God; which means He’s the initiator in this relationship. He sets the boundaries, the times and He sets the tones. In all of my pursuits of Him, it’s my previous responses to Him that has largely determined what I can now see, but even when I’m a good and perfect boy ( right ) the ultimate revelation of Himself is in His hands, not in my pursuit.
Today, I’m reminded that mercy has boundaries. That even when I get what I asked for, it might not look like I expected.”
We are a church generation holding first and foremost a desire to be the dwelling for the presence of our Father. Churches universally are returning to their first love, engaging in corporate prayer, dry bones are coming alive and burning with new passion for Him. In this pursuit, we want our motives established on a solid foundation.
Two simple thoughts this morning ~ first, we do not pursue the external manifestations of God’s great glory and power; we pursue the knowledge of Him. We pursue Him, not His displays or provision, to walk in His ways and be pleasing unto Him.
Moses’ prayer from verse thirteen, Exodus thirty three: “please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favour in your sight.”
God did and does reveal Himself through physical manifesations - a fire by night, a cloud by day, splitting the red sea, manna, quails, snakes, earthquakes, plagues and yet First Corinthians chapter ten shows us they STILL were not a people who had learned the ways or nature of God. Jesus, from Johns gospel, tells us twice, (4:48;12:37); ‘even if the people see a miracle they would not believe.’
Second, the primary way we as New Testament believers are to “see” and ‘know” God, the Father and his son Jesus Christ is through the written, Holy Spirit revealed, Word of God. Our pursuit is then transformational and life giving.
He is The Word made manifest and the word written that we might know and see. “He who has seen me has seen the Father”, Jesus also said, “…you search the scriptures that you might find life but you refuse to come to me…”, John 5: 30. His words are Spirit and life. You can’t hold the word without a relationship with the Holy Spirit. You simply produce a dead letter and church tradition. It is by both His word and His spirit that we live.
Jesus’ rebuke of Thomas was based off of Thomas’ need to see with his natural eye in order to believe, John 20:28-29. The bible has been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. The blessing of believing, while not seeing, is key for every believer pursuing the glory of God.
Any disappointments and set backs I’ve had in my life as a believer have come from expectations of how God should have done something . Unresolved disappointments produce, as I said last week, an evil heart of unbelief, causing us to depart from Him. That looks like not reading our bibles, no prayer, no engagement with God. That never changes until we humble ourselves and submit, agree with what He is (has) said and leave His ways and works in His hands.
To sum up, we seek to know Him, to know His ways, that we may walk in them and be pleasing in His sight. Show me your glory is a cry we should all hold, but not from a place of needing to see a tangible manifestation to believe or know who He is. “Show me your glory” is our cry to see every written word come alive as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and thereby holding a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.