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Experiencing The Glory Of God
Exodus 33:18-23
In our text we have a conversation between Moses and the Lord God Himself.
Listen as I read that passage.
Exodus 33:18-23… NIV
That’s an intriguing passage, isn’t it?
At first we’re almost shocked by the words of Moses.
Moses boldly asks God to reveal His glory.
Can you imagine that?
Our first reaction is shocked amazement.
The second is maybe to condemn Moses for doing it.
We would never do anything like that.
Right?
Wrong.
We do it often.
We either think it or we say it.
"God, just reveal yourself to me.
If you would just see to it that I win the $10,000,000 Sweepstakes, then I would know beyond any doubt that you are really God."
Job did something like that.
The scribes and the Pharisees did it.
Mankind has always made demands of God.
"God, just zap me with a divine lightning bolt and make me instantly pure and holy so that I would never think evil thoughts or never say bad words again."
"God, just reveal yourself to me, and I will be your boldest witness in all the world.
God, just heal all the people that I know who are sick.
Just perform some miracles and we would know beyond any doubt that it is you."
How strong our faith would be, if we could just catch a glimpse of God now and then and know that God is real.
But when Moses said something like that to God, the Lord replied, "Moses, the first thing we need to get straight is that I am going to do this my way, not yours.
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Then He said, "I am going to pass before you.
My glory is going to be there."
"But, you’re not ready to see it.
So here is a rock, and you stand on the rock and get ready.
The moment I pass by I am going to take you and put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand.
Then I will pass by.
Once I have passed by I will remove my hand and you will see my back.
But you are not ready to see my face because no one can see my face and live."
That passage of Scripture tells us something about the way God reveals Himself, even to us today.
First of all, it says that God sometimes passes so near that you can feel His presence.
You can know that He is there.
But at the same time, there is a dimension to God that you and I will never be able to see or understand or comprehend with our finite, puny minds.
One preacher compared our understanding of God with our understanding of the sea.
He said, "I know the sea but I don’t know the vastness of the sea.
There is a part of the sea that washes up on the sands of my life.
I can bathe in it.
It lulls me to sleep with its waves.
And yet, I know only a very little part of the sea."
It’s the same way with God, isn’t it?
He is so close we can almost reach out and touch Him.
And yet, He is so magnificent that we will never completely understand all about Him.
I think there are times when God reaches down and helps us in special ways, and we realize beyond any doubt that it’s the Lord doing it.
I love a story told by Ralph Craddock.
In one of his lectures he tells about a time when he says that God revealed Himself in a very special way.
He said that he was riding in the non-smoking section of an airplane, where he always sat.
While he was sitting there, a man across the aisle lit up one of these long black cigar type cigarettes and started puffing away and blowing smoke into the air.
Just then this lovely stewardess came by and Craddock motioned to her and asked, "Isn’t this the non smoking section?"
She said, "Yes, it is."
He said, "Well, the man across the aisle is smoking."
She looked over and said, "He sure is."
He asked, "Could you do something about it?"
So she went over and politely said, "Sir, this is the non-smoking section.
Would you mind moving back to the smoking section?
There are plenty of seats back there."
The guy just took a big drag on his cigarette, blew smoke right into her face, and defiantly stayed in his seat.
She turned back to Craddock and shrugged her shoulders like, "What do I do now?"
And he shrugged his shoulders like, "I don’t know what you do now.
You’re in charge."
He said that then this very beautiful stewardess turned around and went to the back.
He thought maybe she was going to check with her supervisor or something to find out what to do next.
She didn’t come back for a while.
But when she did come back she had a full tray of soft drinks and peanuts and was passing them out to the passengers.
It was obvious that she had decided not to do anything about it at all.
This guy was still puffing away and the smoke was still in the air.
But just as she got even with Craddock and the fellow who was smoking, the plane hit an air pocket.
Suddenly, all of the drinks on that tray spilled over on that guy, dousing out his cigarette, splashing all over his expensive suit and tie, and ending up in his lap.
"And then," Craddock said, "the beautiful stewardess fell into my lap." "Now," he said, "You tell me there is no God."
I want to talk about the nearness of God this morning.
Let me share five areas where I think we can experience the glory of God.
\\ 1. WE CAN EXPERIENCE GOD’S GLORY IN NATURE.
A. First of all, I think we can see God in the nature that surrounds us.
Many passages of Scripture come to mind.
Let me read a couple of familiar ones to you from the book of Psalms.
The first is Psalms 8:3.
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place . .
."
Here is the psalmist out on some moonlit night, staring up at the sky.
He experiences the serenity of the evening and realizes that it is God who has made the heavens and put the moon and stars in their proper places.
In Psalm 19, vs. 1 and 2, there are similar words.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."
He is saying that when we look into the heavens we see the glory of God.
The sky itself proclaims the work of His hand.
Day after day, God is speaking to us.
Night after night He is revealing His glory and knowledge to us.
Listen to these words in Job 12:7-10.
"But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind."
The book of Romans suggests that we are without excuse.
Even if we have never heard a sermon about God, we are without excuse.
Because nature itself reveals to us what God is like, and what God has done.
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