This morning’s message is entitled, “Show Me Your Glory,” and I want us to look at God’s blessings today. I want to open by having us consider how the Lord’s blessings are similar to a jet aircraft flying at supersonic or near-sonic speeds. Did you ever hear a jet fly overhead and you looked straight up into the sky and weren’t able to spot it? But then, when you looked ahead on the horizon you finally caught a glimpse of it as it was flying away from you? You see, we can hear a small propeller-driven airplane heading our way long before it goes overhead, but a jet aircraft flying at near or supersonic speeds will have already flown over before we even hear the sound.
Did you know that God’s blessings work in a similar way? When God chooses to open up the flood gates and rain down His showers of blessing, we usually don’t realize it until after we are completely drenched. This morning, we are going to take a look at Exodus 33:18-23, and see how God wants to send His supersonic showers of blessing on those who know His Son, Jesus as Savior and Lord. I believe our message today will be one of great encouragement for anyone who is facing trials and difficulties, and for those who doubt that God wants to deliver them. If you feel that God is very far from you, then watch out, because you might just get hit with a tidal wave of blessings from out of no where!
God Reveals His Goodness (vv. 18-19)
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
It is an understatement to say that life can be hard, and if it’s not hard then you’ve either been sheltered or extremely blessed. But if you feel like life is a constant struggle, or that you are stuck in a deep hole and can’t see the light of day, then one possibility is that you have not asked God to show you His glory. That’s what Moses asked God to do. In verse 19, the Lord replied by saying, “I will make all my goodness pass before you.” God’s glory, when manifested in our life, is revealed by His goodness; which can be implied as His blessings. The Lord wants to bestow His goodness upon us, and He will do so if we just simply ask Him. If we are not experiencing God’s goodness, then perhaps it’s because we are either in a temporary state of testing of our faith – which chastening is actually a display of God’s goodness (Hebrews 12:6) – or we are simply failing to ask Him.
In 1 Chronicles 4:10, we read about a man named Jabez who cried out to the Lord, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed.” Some of us have been raised to believe that it’s wrong to ask for help from anyone, because this is similar to begging and it’s shameful to show your weakness to others. These are human ideas based on pride, and God tells us in Proverbs 6:16-17 that He hates pride. In James 4:6, we read, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” and it takes humility to ask for help. Now, the Greek word for “grace,” in James 4:6, is charis, meaning favor or kindness; which tells us that God will not shower us with His blessings, or His favor, unless we humble ourselves before Him and ask Him. He gives grace or favor to the humble.
So, is it selfish to ask God for a blessing? We need to understand the meaning of the word “blessing” in order to answer this question. “To bless in the biblical sense means to ask for or to impart supernatural favor. When we ask God for [His] blessings, we’re not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves. We’re crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or to give us.”(1) When we look at both Jabez and Moses’ requests, we notice that neither one of them asked for anything specific or selfish. They left it entirely up to God to decide what the blessing would be, and where, when, and how they would receive it. This type of request focuses on wanting for ourselves nothing more and nothing less than what God wants for us.
If God tells us to ask Him for a blessing, then it is not selfish to do as Moses did a say, “Please, show me Your glory,” or “Please, cause Your goodness to pass before me.” The Scripture tells us that if we do not ask for God’s blessings then we won’t receive them. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you.” In James 4:2, we read, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” Jesus declared in Matthew 7:10, “If you then . . . know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” You see, God is our Father in heaven, and just as our earthly father – or parents – love to give and provide for us, God is eagerly awaiting us to ask Him to bestow His blessings on us.
Just listen to some of the cries of God’s people for the Lord to send His blessings upon them. Daniel Whittle, in the well known hymn entitled, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing,” pleaded with God: “There shall be showers of blessing; send them upon us, oh Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing; come, and now honor thy Word. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops ‘round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.”(2) Years ago, the Christian music group FFH cried out to the Lord: “Open up the sky. Rain down your love. I don’t care if I, never get enough. I just wanna’ be caught in that flood, so open up the sky.” If we expect God to rescue us from our difficulties and rain down His blessings, then let us not waver in asking Him to show us His glory.
Safe in the Arms of Jesus (vv. 20-22)
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.”
Bible commentator Matthew Henry says the rock that contained a cleft in which Moses was hidden represents Christ.(3) We may be going through some difficult times, but if we know Jesus who is the rock of our salvation then we are protected in the cleft of the rock. A cleft is simply a crack or crevice. When the storms of life grow too intense in which to stand, we have a place of shelter or refuge in Christ. Jesus has His arms of protection around us at all times, even in the midst of trials and difficulties. There may be times when we feel as though God has abandoned us, but if we know Jesus as Savior and Lord, then we can rest assured that we are not alone. There is a well known illustration called “Footprints in the Sand,” which portrays how Jesus has His loving arms around us even during times of difficulty. Allow me to share this illustration with you:
“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there were one set of footprints. This bothered me, because I noticed that during the low periods of my life when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So, I said to the Lord, ‘You promised me, Lord, that if I followed You, You would walk with me always. But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of prints in the sand. Why, when I have needed You most, have You not been there for me?’ The Lord replied, ‘The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you’.”(4)
When we are going through a valley in our life we might feel as though we’re alone, but we need to remember that we are always surrounded by the loving arms of Jesus. We read in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.” If we look back at 1 Chronicles 4:10 to Jabez, we see that he not only asked God to bless him, but he asked that God’s hand would be upon him. When he asked for God’s hand to be on his life, he was showing his dependence on God. He couldn’t change his life circumstances by himself. He had to rely wholly on the Lord for provision. The same thing held true for Moses. We read in verse 22 that God’s glory would pass over Moses only when he was “in” the cleft of the rock, not while he was outside of it. Moses needed God’s hand upon him as well.
If we want our unpleasant life circumstances to improve then we must be totally dependent on Jesus for the breakthrough. We show our dependence on Christ by refraining from worry during times of difficulty. Any time that we worry, we are trying to use our own reasoning to find a solution to our situation. Only God knows the answer to our problems and we need to rely on Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. He will bring us out of our distress and shower us with His blessings when we learn to trust Him fully and walk by faith. We must allow Jesus to carry us in His arms. We should be one in Christ Jesus, so that throughout all our life there will be only one set of footprints. However, should we fail to ask God for His glory and goodness, and fail to trust Him with our circumstances, then there might be another set of prints to behold in the sand. Here’s a variation of the “Footprints in the Sand” illustration:
“One night I had a wondrous dream. One set of footprints there was seen. The footprints of my precious Lord, but mine were not along the shore. But then a stranger print appeared, and I asked the Lord, ‘What have we here? This print is large and round and neat, but Lord, they are too big for feet.’ ‘My child,’ He said in somber tones, ‘For miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to live by faith; pick up your cross and walk in grace. You disobeyed, you would not grow. You would not stand against the flow. Your neck was stiff, your ears were shut; so there I dropped you on your butt. Because in life, there comes a time, when one must fight, when one must climb; when one must rise and take a stand, or leave their butt prints in the sand!’”(5) If we don’t want to be left stranded on our derriere, then we need to ask the Lord in faith to show us His glory, and then trust Him to take care of the rest.
We Don’t See God Coming (v. 23)
23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
When we are hidden in Christ, God’s blessings will shower over us like a flood! All the while that we are in Christ, and during our trials, God only has good intentions for us. The Bible says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). We may not see God coming, but He is always moving towards us. Even when we feel as though we are suffering and all alone, God already knows how we are going to rise above our present distress. He’s already created and knows the way out; and often, we don’t see His blessings until they have already passed over us and we have already received them. You might call them God’s supersonic showers of blessing!
Notice in verse 23 that when the Lord takes away His hand, we shall see His back. Like that supersonic jet, God has already passed by and left us in the wake of His goodness. And when we make it to the other side of our circumstances, we will be able to “look back,” so to speak, and see how God has been with us all along working all things for our good (Romans 8:28). You have probably noticed that our trials never seem pleasant at the time we’re going through them; but when we are on the other side we can often see how God used these times to make us into a better person and shape our character. James tells us, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4). When we’re on the other side we can see God’s glory and we can see that He has been working in our lives the entire time.
Time of Reflection
If you are facing a difficult time in your life, and feeling down because you haven’t yet experienced God’s deliverance and His blessings, then take heart, for the Lord is faithful! Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” As long as you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, as long as you are continually seeking and asking God for His blessings, and as long as you’re relying on God and allowing Him to be your strength, then the Lord is already moving towards you with a supersonic flood of blessings. You may not see Him coming, but He is definitely on His way, and He is working all things together for your good. We read in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Now, if you do not have a relationship with Jesus, if you are uncertain about whether you will go to heaven when you die and leave this earth; then unfortunately, you are not safe in the arms of Jesus. When you are experiencing difficulties, who will deliver you? What hope do you have? Those who know Christ will be delivered from their trials in due time, but those who don’t know Jesus will try to drown out their problems with alcohol and drugs; substitutes that leave you empty. These are what they turn to in their time of need, because there is no one else who really cares or can help them. Jesus Christ is the only hope you have when life becomes tough; and if you will accept Him into your heart, and confess Him as Savior and Lord, then He will be there to carry you across the sands of life and into eternity.
NOTES
(1) Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 23.
(2) Daniel Whittle, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing,” The Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention, 1991), Hymn # 467.
(3) Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997) taken from Logos series 2.1 on CD-ROM.
(4) Mary Stevenson, “Footprints in the Sand,” taken from the Internet February 2003 at http://www.foot-print.com/.
(5) “Butt Prints in the Sand,” https://beguineagain.com/butt-prints-in-the-sand/ (Accessed July 2021).
