Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
Pandora had to open the box and Greek mythology says, our troubles ensued. It is false but it shows us who we are. We want to comprehend God but cannot. Moses thought seeing him would do it but, as God demonstrated, we can only “see” what he reveals. We do not know what Moses saw but we know it was just that amount of glory which would keep him alive, not God himself. The Hebrew said it was his back but we can only guess what even that was. No one can see God and live but we can see his handiwork.
John said no one has seen God and Paul called him unapproachable light. Our God is bigger than we think and our tendency is to make him small enough to fit inside our conceptualization of him. It is a fool’s errand. He is the ultimate power, presence, and perception. Thankfully, he is also the ultimate love, mercy, and grace, forgiving our sins in the most humble way ever. He sent God the Son to a cross to die a criminal’s death, jeered by those he created and put in power. Only he has the power for that.
Dear Lord, thank you for the power and the mercy that are yours alone. May we be imitators of Christ in the humility you taught us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church