Exodus 33:12-23
Moses said to the Lord, “you have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other peoples on the face of the earth?”
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And the Lord said, “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,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will 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.”
When I was a senior in high school I played quarterback for the football team. In one particular game we had the ball on the 1 yard line and needed to score a touchdown just to keep the score close. I knew our star running back was tired because he had carried the ball for four or five plays in a row; and I knew that the defense was expecting him to get the ball again. So I gave a signal to the center that I was going to take the snap and just follow him straight into the end zone because I thought we could surprise the other team with a quick quarterback sneak. It worked perfectly and I scored the touchdown. We ended up losing the game something like 33-14 so that one touchdown ended up being rather insignificant in the whole scheme of things; or so I thought.
On the following Monday our coaches set us down to watch the game film. When we came to the part of the game where I scored on the quarterback sneak the coach stopped the film. He looked at me and said, “Hey Coffey, why didn’t you give the ball to Foley? What are you, some kind of glory hound?”
I knew I shouldn’t open my mouth to explain, so I didn’t. But I can still remember him calling me a “glory hound” in front of the whole team. Glory really was the furthest thing from my mind while I was playing the game, but when I thought about it I could see how it might have looked that way to my coach!
In our common use of the word “glory” we mean honor or fame. The dictionary defines glory as “high renown or honor won by notable achievements.”
So, in that sense, sure, as an athlete I certainly wanted to achieve something worthy of honor and glory! But the phrase “glory hound” implies desiring glory beyond what I deserved; or scheming to steal the glory that belongs to another.
The Hebrew word translated as “glory” in the Old Testament is “kabod” and it carries the root meaning of heavy or weightiness. When applied to God it refers to the weighty importance and shining majesty that always accompany God’s presence.
So there are two main differences between God’s glory and the kind of glory that we, as human beings, often seek for ourselves. First, glory already belongs to God therefore he does not need to seek it. Human beings do not possess glory and therefore do all kinds of things trying to earn it or obtain it. Second, and this gets us to the point of the story, God’s glory is infinitely “weightier” than any glory we might seek for ourselves.
I recently had a conversation with a friend who had, only days before, been in a meeting at the White House that was attended by President Obama. In describing the experience he said something very interesting. He said that the President was about 15 minutes late in arriving at the meeting so the whole group was gathered in the room and waiting. At some point a spokesperson entered the room and announced that the President had just arrived at the White House and would soon be at the meeting. My friend said that those in the room could actually “feel” the approach of the President even before he set foot in the room. He said it was as if the glory of the office had preceded his arrival.
I think most of us have experienced what C.S. Lewis calls “The weight of glory.” If superstar basketball player LeBron James walked into our West Campus worship service some Sunday morning, the whole room would tilt, in a sense, in his direction. That is, within seconds everyone in the room would be aware of his presence and his fame, his glory, his weightiness, would overwhelm everything else in the room – at least for a few minutes until we remembered who we were there to worship!
That brings us back to God; and, specifically, to the glory of God.
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And the Lord said, “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,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will 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.”
I get goose bumps almost every time I read this story! First of all, I love it that Moses is so hungry to know the glory of his God. Moses had been close enough to the glory of God to know it was dangerous (see Exodus 19), but now he wants even more. May we all hunger for the glory of our God!
But notice that while God is willing to show Moses all his goodness, mercy and compassion, he is not willing to show Moses all his glory. Why?
Because it’s just too heavy, too massive, too overwhelming for any human being to endure. Even though he has been close to God’s glory before, Moses has no idea what he has asked. The full glory of God, simply put, would crush him like a bug.
So remember that when you are thrilled to your bones by a fiery Midwestern sunset; or when your heart leaps at the beauty in the face of a child; you are only seeing the trailing edge of God’s glory!
May we long to see him as he is!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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