The Glory of the Lord

One of the daily devotionals I use regularly is "Words of Life" published by The Salvation Army. From 15th September to 8th October, the writer took us through a series of Ezekiel's visions for our meditation.

The phrase "The Glory of God" is used very often and I wonder what comes to the mind of the reader when he hears of it?

Exodus 33 gives us one of these strange occasions when a question is asked and God  refuses to comply to the request. Moses has been walking with God, in fact very closely to Him and verse 18, Moses makes a request, "Now show me Your glory"

Now God gives a response seems rather strange to one whom He has been very pleased with. "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, you cannot see my face, for no one my see me and live." (19-20)

I have been pondering over this passage. What did Moses want to see? Moses wanted to see God's character in all its fullness - God's very being! This is more than anyone can ever know. As human and being finite and morally imperfect we cannot while clothed in human flesh see God as He is. I can only see the evidence of His existence, or to use the phrase 'see God's back' or where He has passed by. We can only know Him by His acts. We cannot fully fathom God as He really is apart from Jesus Christ. "He who has seen me has seen the Father" " John 14: 9

Today we are faced with the same situation. We want to know God better. But how? How can we know anything about the glory of the Lord? Does God manifest Himself to us? Yes, the Bible tells us of the ways and means He manifests Himself. We can understand about His glory.

First we see God's glory when we look at nature and its phenomena around us. My wife and I sleep early and get up early. We love to take morning walks around the compound, hear the sound of insects, the chirping of birds; in other words enjoy nature. Psalm 19: 1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

When we go outdoors and look into the sky we see the beauty of God's handiwork that declares the glory of God. Our minds boggle when we think of the trillions of heavenly bodies we cannot see with our eyes. God designed all these to show us His glory.

I look out of the window and see squirrels prancing around, monkeys jumping from tree to tree, birds flying, I see the glory of God.

We lived in England for four years. One winter's morning it was my delight to watch from the comfort of our lounge, snow flakes falling on the grass. It was a beautiful sight. Nature declares the glory of God.

We are surrounded displays of God's workmanship. As we look at God's handiwork in nature and in the heavens we thank and praise Him and give Him the glory. Let us not be so busy that we do not stop and meditate on His glory.

"Almighty God, thank you for surrounding us with such beauty. We stand in awe as we ponder how you place the stars in place, the heavenly bodies move with such precision in accordance with Your Divine planning. We give You praise and glory."