The Glory Of The Lord Series

Now, that’s what happens when you do what God tells you to do. You experience the glory of His presence. God shows up in a mighty and powerful way.

You see, God’s company is better than any of His gifts. It’s the chief blessing He offers to those who obey Him.

Tim Keller asks us to imagine being in a situation where you were dating somebody and you seemed to be falling in love. As part of getting to know one another, you let it be known that when you got married you were coming into a significant trust fund. The person who you're falling in love with said, “Oh, really? Well, it doesn't make any difference to me whether you're rich or poor. I love you for who you are.”

Suppose just before the wedding, you learned that you were not going to get that trust fund? When you relayed that to your spouse-to-be, he or she got so disappointed that they called off the wedding. How would you feel? (Rev. Bruce Goettsche, “When Life Gets Slippery”, Union Church Teaching Resources, 10-6-13; www.PreachingToday.com)

You would feel used, because your fiancé stayed with you just for the money.

Tell me. Why do you stick with God? Is it only for His blessings, or do you long for His company, whether He blesses you or not? I hope it’s the latter, because God’s presence will change your life forever. His “blessings” will eventually fade.

Author Philip Yancey describes a moment of profound wonder and awe in Alaska's wilderness. He was driving down the road when he came upon a number of cars pulled off to the edge of the highway. Like any of us would have done, he stopped to see what everyone was looking at. Yancey describes the scene:

Against the slate-gray sky, the water of an ocean inlet had a slight greenish cast, interrupted by small whitecaps. Soon I saw these were not whitecaps at all, but whales—silvery white beluga whales in a pod feeding no more than fifty feet offshore. I stood with the other onlookers for forty minutes, listening to the rhythmic motion of the sea, following the graceful, ghostly crescents of surfacing whales. The crowd was hushed, even reverent. For just that moment, nothing else—dinner reservations, the trip schedule, life back home—mattered. We were confronted with a scene of quiet beauty and a majesty of scale. We felt small. We strangers stood together in silence until the whales moved farther out. Then we climbed the bank together and got in our cars to resume our busy, ordered lives that suddenly seemed less urgent (Steve DeWitt, Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything, Credo House Publishers, 2012, p. 68; www.PreachingToday.com).

The glory of those whales transformed their mundane existence, if only for a little while. Now, imagine how the glory of God’s presence can transform your life forever. That’s what happens when you do what God tells you to do. You experience the glory of His presence.

More than that, you experience the glory of His guidance, as well. God not only shows up in a mighty and powerful way. He guides you every step of the way to the Promised Land. That’s what happened to the nation of Israel under Moses.