When My Glory Passes By

When My glory passes by,

I will put you in a cleft in the rock

and cover you with My hand

 until I have passed by."

Exodus 33:22 (NIV)

God's glory is the radiant beauty of all He is. God is so perfect, so holy, and so wonderful that our earthly eyes cannot behold nor our earthly minds comprehend the fullness of it.

When Moses asked to see God's glory, God told Moses that no person could look upon His face without dying — breath would be taken away and the heart would stop beating. So when God's glory passed by Moses, God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered Him with His hand. However, God lifted His hand and allowed Moses to see His back.

Throughout Scripture, God's glory is, at certain times, partially revealed: for example, in the tabernacle of God; in a cloud before His people as He guided them to freedom; in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus; and through God's gift to us, His Holy Spirit.

If God's glory were manifest in our churches today, I wonder how different things would be? And how many lives would change? I think our perceptions of church would come to ruin. Schedules, agendas and titles would fly out the door. Instead, we would all fall on our faces in reverent worship. Our selves would die as we devour God's presence. We would leave with an unbearable desire to evangelize and live a life that is fully pleasing to Him.