Show Me the Glory

By Tim Harlow

“Show me the glory” sounds like a rip-off of a famous movie line””but it”s quite a bit older. Moses was charged with the greatest (and hardest) leadership position in human history. How do you lead people who don”t want to be led? How do you lead people God doesn”t even like anymore?

After the golden calf incident, Moses pleaded with God to spare the lives of the members of his “church.” And God did, but he”d had enough of them and decided to send an angel to lead them because he was DONE. (I believe God was heading for a beach somewhere.) But Moses prayed a prayer that has become the creed for my prayer life in church ministry. It”s one of those nuggets in God”s Word that can change your entire perspective.

Moses said, “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” (Exodus 33:12, 13).

 

Ministry is a partnership between God and me. It involves a messy person (Moses . . . or me) helping God lead a group of messy people to a place they may not be able to see for themselves. Ultimately, God”s job is to remember that they are his people, but my job is to also remember that they are HIS people. My natural tendency as a leader is to spend too much time focusing on the people and not enough time on God.

Christian leadership is about learning God”s ways and finding favor with him. If I can take my focus off the people I lead and direct it to the Person I lead for, everything takes on a new perspective.

It”s never going to be easy. I guarantee you people are going to melt down their earrings. People will frustrate and thwart the will of God. It”s the classic joke that ministry would be great if it wasn”t for people.

For example, almost half of our congregation at Parkview voted NOT to relocate to the property we”re on now. After seven years together, they still couldn”t see the power of God alive in the future “promised land,” and they just wanted to stay with the old ways””just like the Israelites. But the eldership decided our focus should be that of Moses and not Aaron. Aaron gave in to the wishes of the people, but Moses stuck with the direction of God. So we moved, and the rest is history.

Moses was so strong in his resolution to follow God that he even refused help from an angel. I hear Moses flat out saying, “Lord, if your presence does not personally go with us, we”re not moving!” (Exodus 33:15, author”s paraphrase).

 

I”m with Moses. I would rather die by Mount Sinai than to move toward any promised land without the presence of God.

What I love about Moses is he doesn”t stop there. After God promises to personally lead them, Moses lays it all on the line and says, “Now show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18).

Moses had such a close relationship with God that he decided to ask to take it to the next level. He essentially said: “God, these are your people and I need you to teach me your ways so I can know how to lead them, and then I need you to show up and do it with me. Oh, and one more thing, can I have a special revelation of your glory so I can know how awesome you really are””so when your people make me crazy, I will stay strong?”

It”s fascinating that God said yes. I would say God”s mood wasn”t the greatest right after his people and his high priest made and worshiped a false idol! I usually try to have better timing when I ask someone for something so monumental.

So why would God grant this request and give Moses such an obvious “God-burn” that he had to veil his face when he came down from the mountain? Perhaps it was because Moses asked the right question. The right question is not, “Why are these people so dumb?” It”s, “How can I know more of you, God?” Ultimately they are God”s people, and all we can do is try to know him better and hope we can pass it along. Moses wanted to know God so intimately that he actually asked to see him. Show me the glory.

But I also wonder if the timing of the glory episode was more appropriate than we realize. Maybe God knew Moses needed to see the glory in his down moments more than ever. Like God, Moses was also very disappointed and discouraged.

I always want to see God”s glory, but the tough times are when I need to see it. I need extra “glory” when it feels like we”ve been marching around in circles in the desert and we”re not going anywhere. Can you relate?

Unfortunately, the children of Israel teach us that children will always be children. But they aren”t even my children. They are God”s. So my prayer may need to be, “Lord, please make them grow up!” but the more important prayer is, “Lord, help me to grow up.”

“Teach me your ways, and if it”s not too much trouble today, could you please show me some glory?” What I really need . . . is the glory.

 

Tim Harlow is senior pastor at Parkview Christian Church, Orland Park, Illinois.