Ever asked God to see His Glory? Consider this . . .
“Show me your glory,” Moses pleads to the Omnipotent God. And God obliges.
I will cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. … But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. … When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen. (Exodus 33:19, 20, 22,23)
And Moses saw it – the glory of God, pure energy swirling in a fathomless abyss. The ineffable sounds emanating from his being were unlike anything he had heard; even the backside of God was too incredible to imagine. God called it his “goodness” and with His “goodness” came His Name! Wow!
And I pleaded to God, “Show me your glory.” Which one of God’s lovers has not requested the same? And I heard him say, ever so indelibly, “I want to see my glory in you! Then the world will see my glory, and you will reflect it!”
God has a much greater plan for his glory than we do. It would have been wonderful to have seen what Moses saw, but whom would it bless other than me? What kind of glory could anyone have gotten from that experience that was for my eyes alone?
When we seek to see his glory, we seek it in the wrong places. We must seek to see it in each other, since that is the reason we were created.
When Isaiah (Isaiah 6) sees the glory of God bursting the seams of the heavenly tabernacle, it was the chorus of angels who declared in verse 3, “The whole earth is full of his glory.” Even the seraphs knew that as they beheld the impressive weightiness of God eternally, God had so sprinkled that same glory in every aspect of the earth – the sky, the trees, the animals, the mighty oceans, and yes, man. As our eyes are turned heavenward for a glimpse of his glory, the angels redirect our attention back to earth, lest we become consumed with a spectacle (seeing) and not with the indwelling (being).
According to John Piper, “God’s righteous passion and delight is to display and uphold his infinitely valuable glory.” And in his great humility, he desires that we be the vessels to showcase his glory.
You know, that is one of the most fascinating passages in the Bible to me. I always marvel at the audacity of such a request; but I am even amazed and greatly humbled that the great I AM obliged Moses.
You brought out something I never thought of though; and that is that we seek His glory in the wrong places-that we should “seek to see it in each other.” I never looked at it that way. And it makes sense in that, as you said, “that is the reason we were created.” As fallen men we dared not think that there is anything glorious about us; the word has never been associated with man- even from the pulpits. So it is unthinkable to seek the glory of Abba within our brothers and sisters.
Another problem is that as human beings we love things in their tangible form- we love to put our senses to work. We would love G-d to appear in a physical form; we want to be able to see, smell, touch and feel Him; and hear His voice. But when Yeshua says that “He who has seen me has seen the Father”; He is also saying, he who has seen my creation – Man (with all the spiritual and tapped and untapped creative power), the sun, moon, stars, seas, etc and all that are in them, has seen my glory.
G-d shows His power and glory, not so we will be awestruck and fixated with the beauty of His glory, but so that we will concentrate on the workings of His Holy Spirit within us. His glory revealed is not for the benefit of one; but for the benefit/the deeper spiritual growth of all.
Thanks Juanita; I love this. Can’t wait to read the entire book. I wish you G-d’s speed.
Blossie, you put it so beautifully! Are you sure you do not want to write the book!? You certainly could.
THIS IS WHAT YOU SAID: “As fallen men we dared not think that there is anything glorious about us; the word has never been associated with man- even from the pulpits. So it is unthinkable to seek the glory of Abba within our brothers and sisters.”
QUESTION: How can we, then, make the unthinkable a reality?