Show Me Thy Glory • Deshen Daily

And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory (Exodus 33:18, KJV)

When Moses came down from Mt Sinai after being with God on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, he later petitioned the Lord and said: “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” What was Moses really asking for? What did he want to see? Understanding the context of this prayer is important.

Moses had seen the burning bush. He saw jaw-dropping signs and wonders in Egypt. He saw the pillar of cloud and fire. He had just been with God for 40 days on Mt Sinai talking with Him as someone speaks to his friend. So what was Moses then asking to see?

The essential element of this request is that Moses wanted God to show him how he really looks like. That is, he wanted to see God more clearly with his physical eyes. He was longing to see God in the flesh. You must realize that everything else they had seen before was some form of physical manifestation of God’s presence, such as the fire and the cloud. Despite all the appeals of these glorious physical manifestations, Moses knew there is still something the Lord had not shown them. He knew there is still more.

There is a hidden desire in God’s people to see God in the flesh. It did not end with Moses. Philip told Jesus “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (John 14:8, KJV). This is the same thing Moses was asking for.

However, Moses prayer was partially answered. Many years later, God will finally be manifested in the flesh. John 1:14 says the Word, God, became flesh. Jesus was God in the flesh, that is, God as a Man. What the prophets and righteous men had desired over the years to see God in the flesh was finally fulfilled. Did you realize that God finally brought Moses again on the Mt of Transfiguration to see Jesus, God in the flesh, the glory of God which he wanted to see with his eyes?

Moses’ desire reminds us that there is something deeper and better than seeing the signs and wonders of God. It is coming into an intimacy with the Father, getting to know Him deeper and deeper each day. Moses’ heart had been to know God intimately. The people were excited about miracles. May you yearn for the glory. Miracles are wonderful, but there is something better, and higher that the Lord is calling us into. It is the life of glory. It is seeing God, now revealed in intimacy with the Living Christ!

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6, KJV)