August 13, 2023
Show Me Your Glory
Exodus 33:12-23
Today we start a new series on "Powerful Prayers". If you were to look on Amazon at some of the top-selling books on prayer, you would get a good look at what culture thinks powerful prayers look like. You will see books that promise that they hold the "secrets" to prayer, books that promise they hold the prayer to “summon seven different angels right now”, and supposed “Christian” books on prayer that are anything but Biblical. The power of prayer does not come from the exact words you say, or from your posture during your prayers. Rather the power of prayer comes from the one to whom you pray. In this series, I want to look at some powerful prayers prayed by different individuals in scripture, how God answered those prayers, and what they mean for us today. I would like to start by looking at a prayer that was prayed by Moses shortly after the children of Israel left Egypt.
Moses was in a place he would be in many times during his journey to the Promised Land. He was before God interceding on behalf of the children of Israel. God had made a covenant with the children of Israel on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24). After the covenant was accepted by the Israelites, God called Moses back to the mountain and into His presence for another 40 days and 40 nights. This was too long for the children of Israel so they convinced Aaron to let them make their own gods since they didn’t even know if Moses would be back (Exodus 32). Aaron made a golden calf for them and had a festival to worship these new “gods”. This angered God and He executed judgment upon those who were guilty of sin. God then told Moses to go and lead the children to the promised land. God promised that He would send an angel to guide them and protect them. This is when Moses prayed this powerful prayer that is recorded in the latter part of Exodus 33.
Moses was speaking with God in the Tent of Meetings when he said the most famous part of this prayer by asking God to “Show me Your glory”. This morning I want to look at this entire interaction - why Moses actually prayed and asked God to show him His glory, how God answered him, and what it actually means for us today.
Moses prayed because he didn’t want to settle. - Exodus 33:12-15
12 One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ 13 If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.” 14 The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” 15 Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.
Previously we see that God had promised on multiple occasions that an angel would lead them to the promised land (God mentioned this as recently as the beginning of chapter 33). However, Moses wasn’t satisfied with just an angel - he wanted more, he knew that they needed more, and he knew they needed God Himself to be with them. The children of Israel might have been satisfied with an angel leading (which might have sounded exciting to most). Some of the people already proved that they were happy with accepting their old lifestyle by worshiping a “god” of Egypt in the form of a golden calf, but Moses knew none of that would do. He wanted something more - he wanted more of God. He wanted to know who God was more deeply, how He operated more intimately, and he wanted more of a relationship with God than he had ever experienced. If we look back over the Book of Exodus we can see that Moses already had a very deep relationship with God, much deeper than anyone else of that day, but it wasn’t enough for him. He didn’t want more power, he didn’t want more possessions, all he wanted was more of God and he refused to settle for even second best. He wanted the presence of God to always be present in his life or nothing at all. Moses was desperate for God.
Moses prayed because they looked too much like the world. - Exodus 33:16-18
16 How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.” 17 The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”
Moses knew that without God's presence, the children of Israel were doomed. Right after they accepted the covenant with God, they thought God was taking too long and they reverted to their old pagan ways. He knew without God’s presence in their lives each and every day of the journey to the Promised Land, they would continue to do the same. Part of Moses' prayer was that God would be with them to set them apart (or make them holy/sanctified). He looked around and all he saw were worldly people. Moses knew God had called them to be set apart and knew they couldn’t do that on their own. It would only be God going with them that they could be set apart. In order for the children of Israel to inherit what God had in store for them, Moses knew they had to be set apart. They had to be holy just as God is holy.
Moses' prayer was answered. - Exodus 33:19-23
19 The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. 20 But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 The Lord continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. 22 As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”
As we said at the beginning of this sermon, the power of prayer does not come from the words of the prayer themselves, but from the one who listens and answers the prayer. The almighty God was the one who was answering Moses and did it in a way that was best for him. God answered Moses’ prayer - not with a no, not with a 100% yes, but with a conditional answer. He answered part of Moses’ prayer by revealing His name to Moses once again (we talked about the importance of this in our series on the 23rd Psalm). God revealed His character by telling Moses of His actions. When it came to seeing His glory, God had to hide Moses in the rock and cover him with His hand. That would be the only way that Moses could experience the glory of God. He could not see God’s face and live. Moses' prayer was answered, the children of Israel benefited from it, and God was glorified.
What does this mean for us?
I think to understand the importance of this prayer we need to answer two questions in our own lives. Are we satisfied with where we are in our walk with God and do we look different from the world? Let’s take a look at the first question - are we satisfied with our walk with God? I once heard it said that any moment we stop growing in our relationship with God we fall behind because God is always on the move. Our walk with God is almost like water, when it becomes stagnant it isn’t conducive to life. When we stop growing in our relationship with the Lord we become stagnant. When we become stagnant we stop being useful to bring new life to others. We must constantly be seeking to know God more and more in our lives. Sometimes it’s going to be through trials, sometimes it’s going to be through blessings, but it’s always going to be through His Word. God’s Word, the Bible, is how God communicates with us. We cannot pray to have a deeper walk with God, for Him to show us His glory, and not think His Word will not have a big part in the answer to that prayer. So are you satisfied with your walk with God?
The second question is a hard one because we all want to answer yes. When we do, we usually either fall way short or go way overboard (legalism) and both are just as harmful in our walk. When we say we want to be set apart, we still hesitate because we are still in love with this world. Just like the children of Israel reverting to their familiarity with the pagan culture of Egypt, we too fall back into the old lifestyle we are supposed to be dead to (Romans 6:6-11). It is a constant fight every day to fall back into those old ways (1 Peter 2:11), but we are called to present ourselves as a living sacrifice each and every day (Romans 12:1). We must be in the world, but not of the world. The second extreme is adding to God’s Word. When we have a personal conviction, we should follow it, but when we start trying to convince others of it as a truth then we have a problem. Don’t forget this is one of the reasons that Paul wrote to the church at Galatia. When they added something as simple as circumcision to the Gospel of Grace, Paul declared them anathema. Where do we find how to be set apart? It’s God’s Word that sets us apart. We need no more, we need no less, and we need nothing else than God’s Word alone and obedience to it to be set apart.
When we get to a point and pray to God that we don’t want to be like this world, but we want to be set apart, we aren’t satisfied with the walk we have with Him, and we want to grow deeper - we cry out to God, “Show me your Glory”. Do you know how He will answer us? He answers us the same way He answered Moses, He hides us in the Rock. Colossians 3:3 says, “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God”, Jesus Christ is the Rock we are hid in. It’s in a relationship with Jesus that we experience God deeper and more intimately. It’s in Jesus that God is revealed to us(John 1:18, Colossians 1:15, John 14:9) and it’s only through Him that we will ever experience the Glory of God. We can only experience a glimpse of it for this side of eternity, but then we have the promise that we will see Him in all His glory on that side of eternity.
