October 17, 2023: Show Me You Glory

"Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The Lord.' ..." (Exodus 33:18–19, ESV)

I have always found it interesting that when Moses asked God to show him His glory, God responded, "I will show you my goodness and declare my name." We can say that 'God is good.' We can sing that 'God is good.' We can think that 'God is good.' But until we know He is good, we can't trust Him, won't trust Him, and will not receive from Him. When God reveals himself to Moses, it is to encourage and empower him to lead a stiff-necked people into the promised land.

Glory is God expressing Himself. Anytime you see God expressing Himself, you are looking at His glory. Isaiah 6:3 says that the whole earth is filled with His glory. That statement demands an expectation that we see God's glory everywhere. Isaiah 43:7 states that glory is what we were made for. If I am made for glory, then I am made to know and encounter His glory.

God intends for us to know Him. God intended for Moses to know Him. If the children of Israel were ever to know God, they must be led by a leader who knows that God is good. If you know the goodness of God, you will trust Him! This is what God was after: that His people would trust Him. That they would glory in His goodness.