Where is His Glory?
It had taken some time
Preparations had been made under the instructions they had been given. Finally the people stood assembled together at the base of the mountain. They had taken great care as they were afraid.
They had washed all their clothes and they stood silently together in the early morning light.
They stood at attention because the mountain they stood in front of was a holy mountain.
Thunder and lightening suddenly filled the morning silence
The sounds of trumpet blasts filled the air
At the sounds the people shuddered.
A dazzling light shone on the mountain.
Smoke covered the mountain
It was a mountain of fire.
Their leader, Moses walked up the mountain and disappeared in to the smoke.
Forty days and forty nights he communed with God on that holy mountain.
The finger of God wrote on a tablet of stone the laws of life
When Moses came down from the mountain he discovered the people had been having a party
They had broken those laws
Moses pleaded on behalf of his people.
"God, please show me your glory."
The greatest request that could be made to God.
God answered a qualified yes.
He told Moses to hide in the cleft of a rock.
"I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy."
When Moses hid in the cleft of the rock and God proclaimed the name of the Lord did he whisper the name of Jesus to Moses?
In the middle of a pandemic when the world has been brought to its knees can we dare mouth the same prayer? Can we too hide in the cleft of the rock?
God's goodness is his glory. The full display of his glory is the redemption of man.
"For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words."
"Instead you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the Living God (the heavenly Jerusalem) to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge who is God, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant." The book of Hebrews, chapter 12
So we can say this prayer without fear.
"God, please show us your glory."
"The full display of his glory is the redemption of man." Amen!!