The Revelation of Glory

Introduction

In some of our previous conversations I have referenced Ligonier Ministries’ “The State of Theology” survey that was conducted and its findings released a few weeks back. In the conclusion to the key findings from the survey Ligonier noted “The 2025 State of Theology survey makes clear that many evangelical churches and individuals lack a firm grasp of the essential Christian faith revealed in Scripture.” Even though this does not likely come as a shock to many, if not all, of you, it does help us, by virtue of the exact questions that are asked to determine where the problem lies. Again, it probably comes as no surprise that the fundamental issue continues to be biblical illiteracy and a failure of the church and Christians alike to take seriously the mandate to not just make converts but to make true disciples. This is one of the biggest reasons that we here continue to seek to focus in on the Word of God, keeping it central to all that we are teaching and doing, it is the basis upon which all else is built.

Although there are many great truths revealed to us in Scripture one of the most fundamental, and I fear one of the most lacking, is a true understanding of who God truly is as He reveals Himself to us in His word. In fact in that same survey, the third statement was “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam”, out of 3001 responses (not just Christians) 45% were either undecided/unsure or disagreed with the statement, meaning that 55% of those that responded believe that God does accept worship of all religions. We can easily respond to this and say, well we would not expect those who are not Christians to know better, but when we look at the 637 Evangelical Christians (or those who claim to be Evangelical) 55% of them ranged from unsure to strongly agrees… What this says to me, is that the church for the most part is indistinguishable from the world and does not truly know God any better than the rest of the world. The reality is that an understanding of God’s true nature is readily available to us, as Paul writes in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Beyond this however, the Holy Scriptures repeatedly demonstrate to us the many attributes of God, all of which teach us of His true nature.

Last week as we looked at the final portion of the conversation between God and Moses, the conversation that began with Moses’ request for God’s grace to be poured out on the people of Israel, we saw Moses, after having received the assurance of God that He would pour out His grace on both Moses and the people and restore His presence in their midst, Moses cries out for God to reveal to Him, not only His ways but His very glory. We looked at how God promised Moses that He would demonstrate His glory in three ways, the proclamation of His name, the display of His goodness, and a reminder of His sovereignty. Although God was describing these things to Moses in chapter 33, as we move into chapter 34 this morning we see the events unfold the following day as God commands Moses to once again return to the top of Sinai to meet with Him there. If you have not already, please turn in your copy of God’s word to Exodus 34 verses 1-9

Text

Please stand for the reading of God’s Holy, Inerrant, Infallible, Authoritative, Sufficient, Complete and Certain Word

Exodus 34:1–9 LSB

Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. “So be prepared by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. “And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.” So he carved out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him, and He called upon the name of Yahweh. Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. And he said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though they are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own inheritance.”

Gracious Heavenly Father, As we once again bow in Your presence, we enter with thanksgiving and praise, magnifying Your name, recognizing You and You alone as above all. Precious Lord, we long for the day when our faith is made into sight, but we pray for Your continued guidance, protection and mercy as we sojourn along our way. We ask for continued and renewed strength day by day to walk according to Your Word in faith and obedience, that each step we take be grounded in Your truth and anchored in the hope that we have in Christ alone. Father, we are thankful for the gift of Your son, His work on calvary’s cross, His resurrection and intercession on our behalf and we eagerly await the day when we are face-to-face. We are thankful for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, for His continued guidance in our lives, the way in which He illuminates and leads us into all truth. Lord, we are so gracious that Your tender mercies are new every morning and that as we confess our sins before You, You are faithful to forgive us, may we be faithful in our forgiveness of others. Lord we know that it is only by grounding ourselves in Your word and seeking to know You more deeply that we have the sure footing that life requires. It is only by finding rest in You that we are able to walk in this life and stand firm in the face of the enemy. We ask now that this time together is pleasing in Your sight and glorifying to Your name, we ask all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Restored but Marked

No one typically enjoys being reminded of past failures and mistakes. When we are reminded, through conversations, interactions with people or things, or jus memories that randomly float across our minds throughout the days how do we respond? Typically we have people who try and shut those memories out, others try to just immerse themselves in activities that they think will distract them, and some look at them and are reminded that even though that is who we once were, it is our past, and it is no longer who we are. In Christian circles we are often told that we are supposed to just forget about our past, in fact some would go so far as to say scripture tells us to do so, they would quote passages like Philippians 3:13–14 “Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” but the context of that passage doesn’t support this teaching, in fact, scripture does not teach us to forget our past, but rather to remember it. In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus in the second chapter after he so aptly defines who we were and that by grace through faith, which are both gifts from God, we are saved, he goes on to write these words, Ephesians 2:11–12 “Therefore, remember that formerly you—the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” He contrasts the person we were with the person we are in verse Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

As our passage opens up this morning we see the final words between God and Moses in the Tent of Meeting. In this God tells Moses to Exodus 34:1 “… Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.” We spoke at length earlier about the original tablets, so we will stick to the basics here, the original tablets were hewn from the rock and the law was written on them with the very finger of God. The grace God promised Moses and the people in 32:19 begins with this command. It is demonstrated in the fact that God is going to once again write the words of the covenant that He had made with Israel, symbolizing that they would be restored, however, this contains one difference, Moses had to supply the tablets. There are those who misconstrue this passage and use it to try and say that just like Moses had to offer God the tablets we have to offer Him our hearts, but that is not what this is. This is the reminder of who they were, of the fact that the original tablets were destroyed by Moses in anger as a reaction to the sin in the lives of the people. Calvin wrote in regards to this:

Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony Exodus, Chapter 34

Although the renewal of the broken covenant was ratified by this pledge or visible symbol, still, lest His readiness to pardon should produce indifference, God would have some trace of their punishment remain, like a scar that continues after the wound is healed. In the first tables there had been no intervention of man’s workmanship; for God had delivered them to Moses engraven by His own secret power. A part of this great dignity is now withdrawn, when Moses is commanded to bring tables polished by the hand of man, on which God might write the Ten Commandments. Thus the ignominy of their crime was not altogether effaced, whilst nothing was withheld which might be necessary or profitable for their salvation.

Whenever the tablets were seen, the people were reminded of both their past and, by the grace of God alone, their future. Our past, just like their past, is something that is real and true and we should be sorrowful for the sins that we have committed, for the iniquity in our lives and our many transgressions, but as we are reminded of those things, we see the greater beauty in the grace of our Savior, the one who willingly went to the cross to pay the debt and set us free.

Gracious and Holy

As we continue on with verses 2 and 3 we should note the similarity with which God delivers the instructions for Moses’ ascent compared to the first time that He called Moses up on to Sinai. We read in Exodus 19:10-13

Exodus 19:10–13 LSB

Yahweh also said to Moses, “Go to the people and set them apart as holy today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. “And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. ‘No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or surely shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

Although the current instructions we read are not exactly the same they do contain the command that none of the people should come up, or be anywhere on the mountain and that they should not even allow the flocks and herds to wander close the mountain. All of these things have to do, as we have previously discussed, with God’s Holiness. For Moses and the people it is a reminder that although He has shown them grace and will once again dwell within their midst, He is still Almighty God, and as such is Holy, Holy, Holy. He does this, because He knows the tendency of the human heart to take things for granted, to presume to much upon His grace, and in so doing forget the truth of his holiness. Well would it be for believers today to take heed to this truth. How often we forget that the God we serve, is the Creator, the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith, the One whose hand is not too short to save, the One who declared in Isaiah 45:22 ““Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.”

Our methods of evangelism, our shallow conversion centers, our easy methods of salvation and utter failure to disciple have left millions of people who profess to be Christians without a clue as to the reality of the holiness of God. We presume upon His grace that because Christ’s work has allowed us to enter into His presence that we can come there and do as we please with no regard to where we stand. We look at the reaction of those in heaven, the angels cover their faces, the kings of the earth bow down, and yet we think that as long as we throw a couple of cute lyrics in the mix, quote two New Testament bible verses, and have a 20 min self-help Ted talk focused on living our best life now, that we are fit for heaven, and the truth is… the truth is that what we have done is spit in His face, profane His name and “traded the truth of God for a lie”.

God’s Glory Revealed

As we have seen so far in this passage, before Moses every makes it to the top of Mount Sinai, God’s glory is being displayed through and by His word, the re-giving of the law that would occur, and the subtle reminder that although grace has been poured out, it has in no way diminished the holiness of God, it is as Moses is obedient and ascends the mountain on the next morning that the glory of God begins to be displayed visibly and audibly for Moses to see.

The first thing we see in verse 5 is that although Moses has ascended the mountain, he is as high as he can be, yet God must still condescend to come down to him. Matthew Henry writes:

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Exodus 34:5–9

His descending bespeaks his condescension; he humbles himself to take cognizance of those that humble themselves to walk with him.

It is this same cloud, which first descended on Sinai in Exodus 19. You may recall the reaction of the people recorded in Exodus 20:18–21 “And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people perceived it, and they shook and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near the dense gloom where God was.”

As the cloud descends we see the promises given in verse 19 begin to come to fruition. Verse 5 contains an interesting statement, one that has met with disagreement among scholars. The clause that gives pause is the last clause found in verse 5 and the reason is that it is not 100% clear in the Hebrew to whom the personal pronoun he is referring. There are some who believe that the he in question is Moses and others who believe that it is God. Personally I like Calvin’s approach, he writes:

Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony Exodus, Chapter 34

At the end of the verse, “to call in the name of the Lord,” is equivalent to proclaiming His name, or promulgating what God would make known to His servant. This expression, indeed, frequently occurs with reference to prayers. Some, therefore, understand it of Moses, that he called on the name of the Lord. In this opinion there is no absurdity; let us be at liberty, then, to take it as applying either to Moses or to God Himself, i.e., either that God Himself proclaimed in a loud voice His power, and righteousness, and goodness, or that Moses himself professed his piety before God.

Regardless of whether it refers to Moses or God, this calling leads directly to what happens next, which is God’s revelation of His glory to Moses. Before we jump into the words that God speaks I want to draw your attention to two things. First, as you will notice from the reading of this passage there is no mention of Moses being hid in the cleft of the rock. Some theologians attribute this to Moses’ response in verse 8, while others simply note that just because it is not expressly written in this account does not mean that it did not occur. Quite simply, God has already told Moses what would happen and it is very possible that Moses felt that there was no need to include this detail once again. The second thing that I want to raw your attention to is the response of Moses to the words of God. Verse 8 tells us that Moses “made haste” to bow. The word for bow here is a different word than is typically used and is significant in that fact. This is more than just a nod of the head, this is a prostration of Moses before Almighty God that demonstrates his devotion to God. This word is also used in to describe the reaction of Israel after Moses and Aaron spoke to the Elders and then the people in Exodus 4:31 “So the people believed; and they heard that Yahweh cared about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction. So they bowed low and worshiped.” and in chapter 8 of Nehemiah, when for the first time in a long time the people heard the word of God, Nehemiah 8:5–6 “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.”

The reason I wanted to bring Moses reaction to our attention first is that it should demonstrate to us the importance of the words given to us by God in verse 6-7. These two verses deliver to us SEVEN distinct attributes of God. Just think, that amount of knowledge regarding the true nature of God summed up in two verses. As we consider each of these attributes over the next few minutes let them remind us here today of Majesty and Wonder and Awe of Almighty God.

Compassionate/Merciful

As God begins the list we note that he repeats His name, Yahweh, Yahweh God, the word translated God here is El, most of us are familiar with the term Elohim as a name or title for God. The Hebrew literally uses the term we transliterate into Yahweh twice followed by the word el. The double pronouncement of the covenant name of God helps to remind us that the God of which we now read, the God that Moses was hearing about is THE God, the only God, the true God, Matthew Henry eloquently puts it in this way:

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Exodus 34:5–9

the strong God, a God of almighty power himself, and the original of all power. This is prefixed before the display of his mercy, to teach us to think and to speak even of God’s grace and goodness with great seriousness and a holy awe, and to encourage us to depend upon these mercies; they are not the mercies of a man, that is frail and feeble, false and fickle, but the mercies of the Lord, the Lord God; therefore sure mercies, and sovereign mercies, mercies that may be trusted, but not tempted

As He proclaims Himself to Moses, He is also reminding Moses that these words are truthful and dependable because they are not just the words of God, but the very definition of God. He is first of all, merciful. I find it fascinating that this is the first way in which God Himself describes Himself, in the Old Testament. Moses had just been a party to Him demonstrating His mercy by not utterly destroying the people. If we were to ask most people who profess to be Christians today to describe God for us we are not likely to hear the term merciful because so many of the churches today have demonstrated and taught that there are two gods in the Bible, the god of the Old Testament and the god of the New Testament. One is mean, spiteful, vengeful, etc. and the other is Jesus. However, right here, in the Old Testament, God, Himself names Himself merciful. It is is mercy that David, Solomon, Nehemiah, Josephat and others to hope and it is on those same grounds that we now have hope in the finished work of Christ, who is God, Himself, the one true God of both the Old and New Testaments, the entire Bible, stepped out of eternity and into the flesh of man, once again condescending Himself to us to demonstrate His mercy and pour out His grace through faith onto all those who believe in the Lord Jesus!

Gracious

That mercy is demonstrated on the grounds of grace. A few weeks ago we talked about grace, the unmerited, unwarranted, undeserved favor of God. We know that based on the sovereignty of God, of which we were reminded in verse 19, the grace of God is poured out “Ex Mero Motu” merely by His good pleasure on His children. David cried to God in Psalm 86:14–15 “O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of ruthless men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them. But You, O Lord, are a God compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.” Hezekiah cried out, Jonah presumed upon this grace in Jonah 4:2 “And he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil.” , Joel encouraged the people to cry out Joel 2:13 “And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil.” Isaiah assured the people that Isaiah 30:18 “Therefore Yahweh waits with longing to be gracious to you, And therefore He is on high to have compassion on you. For Yahweh is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who wait for Him.”

And now, in the fullness of time, Christ came to demonstrate that grace, to make ready the way so that we, by faith, can be reconciled to God, who is gracious and out of His good pleasure, through the power of the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of men so that we can hear His word and by faith receive that grace.

Slow to Anger

Yahweh then names Himself slow to anger. Oh the blessedness of this truth. His is because He is slow to anger that we have an opportunity to see his compassion or mercy and partake of His grace. It is that long-suffering that stays His hand against the sinfulness of humanity. Were he not long-suffering or slow to anger, His response back in chapter 32 would have been so much different, it would have simply been elimination with no display of mercy. Was He not long-suffering Adam and Eve’s lives would have ended the moment that the sinned, and you and I, oh, the truth of it is that we would simply have been destroyed because of the sinfulness of our very nature… but God is long-suffering. David saw it and as he poured out his praise he rejoiced for it in Psalm 145:8 “Yahweh is gracious and compassionate; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.” Jesus pointed out the long-suffering of God in Matthew 23:37 ““Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it.” and Peter reminds us that this is the reason that He hasn’t returned, because He is compassionate, merciful and slow to anger.

Lovingkindness and Truth

The next attribute is one that is often misunderstood. We read in verse 6 that God is abounding in lovingkindness and then in verse 7 the same word is repeated, however it is used in a different sense in verse 7. In verse 6 the attribute that is being displayed here is that He is loyal to His covenant. The Hebrew word here is hesed, which can be literally translated as words like kindness, mercy, loving kindness as we see here and to understand it you have to take it into context. Here, in the first use of the word, we have had displayed for us the compassion, grace and long-suffering of God and then we have loving-kindness followed by truth. These are two distinct attributes, but the combination of them in this clause helps us to determine what is being described by the term loving-kindness. Truth here is signifying steadfastness, faithfulness. As we see this word used in other places in scripture it is often in reference to God’s covenant-engagements. As we think about the fact that God has chosen the nation of Israel above all other peoples and that He has chosen to covenant with them we see that the loving-kindness here is in reference to His loyalty to His covenant, which is a sign and expression of His love. Matthew Henry makes these comments:

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Exodus 34:5–9

This bespeaks plentiful goodness, goodness abounding above our deserts, above our conception and expression. The springs of mercy are always full, the streams of mercy always flowing; there is mercy enough in God, enough for all, enough for each, enough for ever. It bespeaks promised goodness, goodness and truth put together, goodness engaged by promise, and his faithfulness pledged for the security of it. He not only does good, but by his promise he raises our expectation of it, and even binds himself to show mercy.

Keeps Loving-kindness for thousands/Forgving

This time the word loving-kindness is coupled with forgiveness. This helps us to see that this loving-kindness is tied to the mercy of God and the extent of that mercy. Isaiah reminds us in Isaiah 59:1 “Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.” When we couple this with the attribute of forgiving and the reminder here that God forgives all manner of sin we are reassured of His goodness, His love, His grace. The use here of three different words to describe sin, translated as iniquity, transgression and sin, are to demonstrate that there is no depth of our sinfulness that God cannot forgive. We can trust that we are fully forgiven by grace through faith because of who God proclaims Himself to be to Moses in these verses.

Holy Still

The last line of verse 7 circles us back around to the preparation that God commanded of Moses before he ascended to the top of Sinai, to be sure that the people did not approach. God is forgiving, merciful, long-suffering, graceful, loving, good and He is all truth… thinking of His mercy and grace can lead us to the same place that Paul points in Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” There Paul answers with a resounding God Forbid, here God reminds Moses and through Moses the people, that although all these things are true, they again, in no way diminish His holiness, His righteousness and the fact that He is good. Once again, Matthew Henry is extremely helpful:

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Exodus 34:5–9

For, (1.) He will by no means clear the guilty. Some read it so as to express a mitigation of wrath, even when he does punish: When he empties, he will not make quite desolate; that is, “He does not proceed to the greatest extremity, till there be no remedy.” As we read it, we must expound it that he will by no means connive at the guilty, as if he took no notice of their sin. Or, he will not clear the impenitently guilty, that go on still in their trespasses: he will not clear the guilty without some satisfaction to his justice, and necessary vindications of the honour of his government. (2.) He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. He may justly do it, for all souls are his, and there is a malignity in sin that taints the blood. He sometimes will do it, especially for the punishment of idolaters. Thus he shows his hatred to sin, and displeasure against it; yet he keepeth not his anger for ever, but visits to the third and fourth generation only, while he keepeth his mercy for thousands. Well, this is God’s name for ever, and this is his memorial unto all generations.

The Last Request

The final verse here, verse 9, contains what could appear to be a repetition of Moses’ earlier petition, however, a closer look demonstrates that Moses has understood what God has said and recognized that His earlier petition was not complete. In addition to recognition of the state of the people “stiff-necked” and the request for God to go with them in their midst, he adds a specific request for the forgiveness of their sins but above all he petitions God to take us as Your own inheritance, that the restoration given would be full and complete.

Conclusion

As we behold the scene on Sinai, we are reminded that God’s revelation to Moses was not a new discovery but a gracious reminder—He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lord who descended in the cloud and proclaimed His name before Moses is the same God who has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus—merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and truth, forgiving iniquity and sin, yet never ceasing to be holy. What an astonishing grace, that the God of infinite majesty would condescend to reveal Himself to sinners and to call them His own inheritance. Like Israel, we are a people restored but marked—our scars remind us of sin’s horror, yet also of mercy’s depth. Our past is not forgotten; it is redeemed. The memory of who we were magnifies the glory of who He is. And so, as we stand before the holiness of God, the question before us is this: Have we truly known Him as He has revealed Himself—merciful, gracious, holy, and sovereign—or have we fashioned a god of our own comfort? May our response be the same as Moses’, to bow low in humble adoration, worship, and surrender before the God who is worthy of all praise.

Closing Prayer

Gracious and Holy God, We come before You in awe of Your mercy and trembling at Your majesty. You have shown us who You are—compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Yet You are also just and holy, and You will not clear the guilty apart from the blood of Christ. Father, thank You for revealing Yourself through Your Word, and through Your Son who perfectly displays Your glory and grace. Forgive us for the times we have treated lightly the holiness of Your name or presumed upon Your mercy. Teach us to remember rightly our sin, not to despair over it, but to rejoice in the grace that redeems us. May the scars of our past lead us to deeper gratitude for the cross. Renew in us a desire to know You more fully, to walk humbly, and to live in reverent obedience. For You alone are God, and there is no other. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.