Have you ever prayed this prayer? Have you ever asked God to show you His glory? Maybe you have sung a song that asked God to show His glory and reveal His presence. This is a pretty awesome thing you ask, when you ask God to reveal His glory. The glory of God represents all that He is, His goodness, His power, His light, His majesty, His presence. If God were ever to totally show His glory, it would blow us away.
In the last devotional blog entry, we learned that the Hebrews had failed God and turned to idols. God threatened to destroy them, but Moses interceded on their behalf. Now God is telling Moses to take the people and leave the Mountain of God. God offered His protection, but also told Moses that He would remove His presence. Although God would be with them, He would leave them in terms of maintaining a relationship with them. As far as Moses and the Hebrews were concerned, they would not be able to feel His presence or hear His direction as they wandered.
Moses could not handle this. He realized that without the presence of God, there was nothing special about him or the Hebrews. The only reason they had any value or importance was because God had chosen them and was using them for His plan. Without the presence of God, they would not know where to go, or what to do. Without God they would not know how to act, or even how to pray. Moses came to an incredible conclusion, that without the presence of God it was worthless for them to do anything.
So Moses prayed! He told God that they couldn’t leave without His presence and direction. He pleaded with God to reveal His glory to Moses and the people. Only then could they proceed and know that their trip would be successful.
I don’t think Moses expected God’s response. God told Moses that there was no way that He could show him all of His glory and splendor. If Moses looked into the face of God, the power and brightness of the glory of God would kill him. So God hid Moses behind a rock, and let His glory pass by, but only His back, and even then, God took His hand and covered Moses face. The result, as we will find out in the next chapter, was that the glory of God rubbed off on Moses so that his face would shine and show the power of God. Just a brief glimpse of the glory of God changed Moses forever.
God’s glory came down another time. Take a moment and read John 1:14,18. This same glory of God showed up in a person. Jesus Christ represents the glory of God. He is everything wonderful and good about God in the flesh. And when Jesus came, He turned the whole world upside down.
Be careful when you pray and ask God to show you His glory. He might just show up, and you will never be the same.
