The title I used
this time is actually the title of today's devotional as it appears in the
book. Hmm…I wonder…Coincidence? I think not.
READ: Today's passage is Exodus 33:21-34:7. This is the story of God shielding Moses from
His Glory while they were on the mountain, and includes Moses cutting the stone
tablets upon which the Ten Commandments would be inscribed.
What struck me
today? Verses 21-23. Here are those verses:
God said, "Look, here is a place
right beside me. Put yourself on this
rock. When my Glory
passes by, I'll put you in the cleft of
the rock and cover you with my hand until I've passed by.
Then I'll take my hand away and you'll see
my back. But you won't see my
face."
THINK: This part of the devotional encourages us to
listen for a word or phrase that especially impresses us and let it interact
with our thoughts, feelings and desires.
And this is where I find myself parking today.
I think about my own
situation, what my family is going through, and I have often wondered where God
is. This passage makes me think about it
a little differently. What if God has
not abandoned us? What if His Glory is
passing by us and He has hidden us in the cleft of the rock and placed His Hand
over the opening so we cannot see what's going on outside? Or…what if, He has passed by, but has turned
His back so we cannot look full upon His face and I am merely mistaking that
for Him turning His back on us? I
realize that last bit might sound a bit like mincing words, but I'm hoping you
hear the spirit of the words.
PRAY: "Deeply ponder the quality of God that
the word or phrase portrays. Share with
Him what's striking to you about this aspect of his character. Explore what makes you desirous of someone
with this trait."
Reading this
passage, I envision a God who cares so deeply about His people that He desires
to shield them from anything that might overpower them. And the Glory of God would certainly
overpower me. These verses make me want
to try to look at my current situation in a different light. Maybe I can't see what He's doing because it
is too powerful to fathom. Maybe He's
shielding me from being able to see or understand because I wouldn't comprehend
anyway. Maybe I would just get in the
way. But, maybe, and possibly, most
likely, He just wants to develop my faith a little more, asking me to trust
that while He has me hidden, or while His back is to me, I can believe that
what is on the other side of Him is going to be something that is indeed good
for me.
LIVE: Here we are asked to envision the ways God is
present to us right now, the posture He has and what expression is on His
face. We are also asked to listen to His
tone of voice, if He is speaking to us.
And we are challenged to ask Him to enhance, or correct, this picture of
Him, through the passages we read and through our experiences.
To say that I have
been seeing God through the glass darkly (not dimly, but darkly) would be an
understatement. I've not been trying to
see much of Him at all. I think that's what
made these last two weeks so powerful.
Not only has He revealed Himself to me, but He has done so in such a way
that He has also unveiled much of my own character for me to see myself more
clearly, as well. I've discovered that I
cannot have an accurate picture of myself without an accurate picture of my
sin. And I cannot have an accurate
picture of God without spending time in His Word. And when I spend time in God's Word and get a
more accurate picture of Him, my sins come into full, crystal-clear resolution,
and I am left seeing that the idea that I could make it in this world on my own
steam is foolishness.
So, for now, I am
going to keep plugging away, spending time in the Word by reading this
devotional, and sharing it with you, trusting that God will continue to meet me
here. My prayer is that He will continue
to crystalize my image of Him so that I can relate to Him from my proper
place: worthy of dying for and unable to
make it through this life without His help and provision and protection.
Abba Father,
Thank you for
answering my prayer and for meeting me right where I was, and how I was, these
past two weeks. And thank You for
revealing Yourself to me. Please help me
not to forget about this time and how sweet it was when I return home, and give
me the courage to tell others about it IN PERSON so that they, too, can see
that You dearly long to show Yourself to them as well.
In Jesus' Holy Name,
I pray, Amen.
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