Every morning all across the world every single person does something that we all hate to do-wake up. Sure, waking up is certainly better than never waking up but this doesn’t change the fact that the process of waking up is never fun.
I mean, is it just me or does it always feel like you could use a little more sleep when the alarm clock starts chirping? The warm blankets seemingly come alive as they plea with you to spend just a few more minutes in their cozy nest. And while the weariness, disorientation, and the screeching alarm clock certainly make waking up difficult, I believe there is one more aspect of waking up that is just as big, if not bigger, of a pest than all the rest-opening your eyes.
Sight is a beautiful gift from God given the right context. Our hearts are filled with joy and warmth as we look at beautiful scenery, gaze into the eyes of our spouse, or watch our favorite sports team holding up the championship trophy. However, when you wake up in the morning after a long winter’s nap and the first thing you see is a blindingly bright ceiling light above your bed, sight seems to feel more like a curse than a blessing at the time.
You squint, cover your eyes, and impatiently wait for your pupils to adjust to the sudden flood of piercing light. In that moment all you want to do is just close your eyes because the light is so blinding.
This is the exact feeling the Israelites had in Exodus 34 when they would look at Moses. You see, in Exodus 33:18 (NIV) Moses said to the Lord, “…Now show me Your glory,” to which the Lord replied by saying, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the LORD, in your presence…But…you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live” (Exodus 33:19-20, NIV).
And that’s exactly what happened in Exodus 34:6-7-the Lord passed before Moses and allowed him to see His glory. Moses didn’t get to see God Himself but just His glory. All he saw was the trail dust of the star, a shadow produced by a light, a drop in the bucket. And yet, despite this limited glimpse of the Lord, we read in Exodus 34:29 (NIV) that Moses face was, “…radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.”
His face beamed so brightly with the glory of the Lord that the entire Israelite community could not bear to look directly at his face unless Moses wore a vail to cover the brightness. His face shinned as brightly as your ceiling light does when you first wake up-the Israelites physically could not look at his face because he had seen the Lord’s glory.
Well if you fast forward several thousand years ahead, we read in John 1:14 (NIV) that, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In other words, the same Lord who appeared to Moses in Exodus 34 now put on flesh and bones as the person of Jesus and lived out 33 years of revealing the Lord’s glory to the world. Of course at the end of His 33 years, Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose on the third day, and then ascended to heaven after 40 days (Acts 1:3).
But that’s not the end of the story. You see, in John 14:26 (ESV) Jesus promised to send us, “…the Helper, the Holy Spirit…” to forever dwell within us. In other words, Jesus may no longer be here with us, but through the presence of the Holy Spirit the same Lord who appeared to Moses in the Old Testament and the same Lord who walked on the earth for 33 years is the same Lord who is alive and present in our lives.
With that in mind let me ask you a question. If the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face without being overwhelmed by the radiance of the Lord’s glory all because Moses simply saw the Lord’s back for a moment, how much more should our faces glow with the Lord’s glory if this same God dwells in us for eternity? How much more should our conversations be encouraging and edifying if the Most High truly does dwell in our hearts? How much more should our actions in the workplace, at school, and at home be above reproach if the Holy One makes His home in our lives? And how much more should people be acutely aware of the Lord’s glory after spending time with us if the Glorious One is truly the King of our souls?
It’s a great question worth asking. And it’s not a question that we answer one time and then move on. Rather, it is a question whose answer should dictate our every thought, word, and action as we live our lives.
And the beautiful part about our story is that unlike Moses, we don’t have to wear a vail to cover up this illuminating glory. Instead, we are commanded to, “…let [our] light shine before others, that they may see [our] good deeds and glorify [our] Father in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16, NIV). So if this Lord is truly in you, then you have no other option but to let this light shine, let it shine, let it shine.
“The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
-Proverbs 4:18 (NIV)
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
