On The Journey Guided By Glory

Exodus 33:17–23

When Darkness Falls

Introduction: When Darkness Falls

Today we begin in a place that is dissonant. It is dissonant because of what has transpired. Writing a message in the context of the tragedy and grief we are experiencing is never an activity that I will get used to. Our country, our region, our church are witnessing more frequently what is abnormal.

For Christians we must concede that we live in a broken and fallen world. A world where sin is accentuated to acts of great evil. We have seen the worst that humanity has to offer in recent weeks and yet, what once felt distant has come close. Like an earthquake shaking our places of security and serenity, so our lives have been shaken. Sin is present, and evil is real and active. However, what we are experiencing is not normal. It is not God’s design for creation.

Theologians call this the tension of the “already and not yet.” Already Christ has conquered sin and death, and yet we do not yet see all things placed under His feet. That tension—that dissonance—is where Hanover finds itself this past week.

So what now? What do we do with this space that is the tension between what is and what is supposed to be? What does the scripture have to say to us in times such as these, when the people who are meant to keep us safe find themselves the very target of evil?

From Hanover to the Wilderness

Israel knew this space of disorientation too. Fresh from the sin of the golden calf, they feared God might abandon them. Like Hanover, they were standing in the ashes of failure and grief, wondering if God’s presence would still go with them.

The answer is simple: God is still with us and will go with us. God is the answer to all the questions. God. Not public policy, not talking heads on the news, not the uneducated, opinionated people of social media. Just God. “If we seek him with all our hearts.”

Israel found itself in a strange place where God was willing to let them go their own way. Their sin was too great. Could a people capable of such evil and rejection of the moral and righteous law of God be a people still escorted by God’s divine power and presence?

Yes, and here is the good part. Moses intercedes. Moses, the prophet, the high priest, gets involved. He goes to seek God and serve the people Israel. Moses seeks God’s presence. After the great sin, after God’s rejection of the people, Moses doesn’t give up. Because Moses knew that whatever future lay before them, God must go with them. If God was not going to lead them, no promise would suffice. It was a dark time, and Moses and the people found themselves in the tension. So Moses sought God. Moses longed for God. There was no option. Moses could not imagine a future without God’s close presence with him and the people.

Thesis

Just as Moses longed to see God’s glory, we too long for God’s presence in the darkest nights of grief and tragedy. It is innately human. When the darkest of times wash over us like a tidal wave, we look up for air and reach up for rescue.

Even when the road leads through valleys of grief and darkness, God’s presence is still a shelter.

Psalm 121:1–2 — “I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 — “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Psalm 44:23 — “Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever!”

Tragedy has a way of getting the people of God focused. We are shaken and we cry out to one another:

Ephesians 5:14 — “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

2. God’s Glory Is Personal (vv. 17–19)

God responds to Moses’s intercession. Moses holds God to God’s own covenant promises. This isn’t arrogance—it is faith. Faith dares to take God at His word, to pray with what Jewish tradition calls ḥutzpah klapei shamayim—holy boldness toward heaven.

Psalm 80:14 reminds us, “Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine.” Calling upon God in times of great grief and strife is exemplified in scripture. For when we turn, God is there. We can be real and offer honesty to God: Why God? Why don’t you care? Have you left us?

We know that God never leaves us or forsakes us, but right now our reality does not match our knowledge. This cognitive dissonance must be acknowledged.

How does God respond? By being exactly who God is—the God who stooped and formed us in the dirt and came close to breathe life into us, who provides for us constantly.

Moses reminds God of His covenant. He is not acting in ego or crudeness but in faith. Moses believes God in all God’s fullness, and he has bet everything that God is exactly who He believes God to be—just as God has declared Himself: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I remembered my covenant. I will make you descendants number the stars and give you a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God tells Moses, “I know you by name.” God affirms His covenant relationship with Moses.

In tragedy, we feel anonymous and forgotten, but God says: “I know you. I see you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”

Hagar, abandoned in the wilderness, prepared to die with her child, yet she discovered God as El Roi—the God who sees me.

Psalm 46:1 — “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Isaiah 49:15–16 — “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

Isaiah 43:1 — “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Application to Hanover: God knows every name of the fallen officers, every family grieving, every officer still fighting, the family of the one who transgressed, and every community member carrying fear. He knows, and He calls us His own.

But God does more than just see us. His presence does not stop at recognition; it moves to protection. The same God who says, “I know you by name” is also the God who covers you with His hand. His glory is not only personal—it is protective. And that is exactly what Moses discovers next.

3. God’s Glory Is Protective (vv. 20–22)

The Glory of God is personal, but in its intimacy God protects us. Moses asks for God to reveal His glory, but Moses cannot see the fullness of God’s glory. So God places him in the cleft of the rock, covering him with His hand.

God’s glory destroys the enemies of God, but for those who are being saved by grace it is our refuge and fortress. God’s glory does not destroy us—it shelters us.

Christ Himself is that Rock, the very cleft in which we hide. On the cross He absorbed the full weight of God’s glory and judgment, so that what would consume us now shelters us.

Psalm 91:1–4 — “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Isaiah 25:4 — “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”

It is only after the wake that we can bear witness to God’s provision. Looking back, we see that evil has been undone, death has been defeated, and the enemy has no power over the Church. The Church ushers in the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom. Because of Christ’s love shed for us, God’s glory revealed in His Son sanctifies and protects us from the power of death. Even in this world, when we die, we live. As Paul declares, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

And yet, even with that victory secured, our vision of God’s glory in this life remains partial. We are sheltered, yes, but not yet fully satisfied. We long to see more. Moses felt that longing when he prayed, “Show me your glory.” It was not enough to know God’s protection—he wanted God’s presence in its fullness. And that is where we turn next.

4. God’s Glory Is Revealed in Passing (v. 23)

Moses was bold enough to ask, “Show me your glory.” But God knew that Moses could not yet behold the fullness of His glory and live. Instead, God tucked him into the cleft of the rock and allowed him to see only His back, the afterglow of His presence as He passed by.

And isn’t that often our experience in times of tragedy? In the very moment of grief, when questions overwhelm us, we cannot see God clearly. His presence feels hidden, His voice distant. Yet later—when the dust begins to settle, when courage rises from the rubble, when healing begins to take hold—we look back and realize God was there. His fingerprints were all over the journey.

Elijah learned the same truth. In 1 Kings 19 he did not find God in the wind, or in the earthquake, or in the fire. God came in a gentle whisper. Sometimes His glory is not blazing before our eyes but brushing past us in ways we only notice afterward.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts.” Even in Hanover’s darkness, God’s light is breaking in. We may not see it in full today, but His passing presence will leave behind traces of hope, healing, and restoration.

Moses only saw the afterglow—the traces of God’s passing presence. And often in our own grief, we too live by glimpses: we see God’s fingerprints after the fact, we sense His whisper more than His shout. But here is the good news of the Gospel: what was partial for Moses has become full for us. What was passing has become permanent. In Christ, the glory of God no longer brushes by—it takes on flesh and dwells among us.

5. Gospel Connection: Glory in the Face of Christ

But Moses only glimpsed God’s back. In Christ we behold His face. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

At the cross, glory and tragedy collided. From death came resurrection. From darkness burst forth light. From hopelessness rose eternal hope. What Moses longed to see, we now see in the face of Christ.

Colossians 1:27 tells us, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Hebrews 1:3 declares, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”

If we want to know where God is in our pain, if we want to know what God looks like in tragedy, we look to Jesus. In Him, God’s glory shines brightest in broken places.

In Christ we have seen the glory of God most clearly. But the story of glory does not end with seeing—it calls us to shining. What Moses glimpsed, what the disciples beheld in Jesus, now lives within us by the Spirit. And because Christ is in us—the hope of glory—we are called to reflect that glory into the world around us. That is the calling before Hanover today

6. Application: Carrying Light into Hanover

We are called to carry this glory into Hanover. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others” (Matt. 5:14–16).

So what does that look like? It looks like remembering—holding the names of the fallen, the wounded, the grieving before God. It looks like standing—refusing to let fear or division fracture us, remaining a community bound together in peace. And it looks like shining—embodying Christ’s love in both word and deed, showing mercy, offering comfort, being a light in the valley of shadows.

We cannot undo the evil we have witnessed. But we can bear witness to a greater reality: that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

7. Conclusion: Hope in the Cleft of the Rock

Moses found safety and a glimpse of glory in the cleft of the rock. Hanover today can find that same hope in Christ, the Rock of Ages.

So let this be our prayer: “Lord, show us Your glory. In Hanover, in our grief, in our fear—pass by us, cover us, and let us see Your goodness.”

One day we won’t just glimpse His glory in passing—we will see Him face to face. The dissonance will resolve. The tears will be wiped away. Hanover’s grief will be swallowed up in resurrection song.

And may the God who knows us by name, the God who shelters us in His presence, the God who shines light out of darkness—be with Hanover, and with each of us, until that day.