The transforming glory
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty. Psalm 104:1
Read Exodus 24:12—18
This night I have moments, the little time that I give, to sit myself, as it were, at Moses’ side. He has entered the cloud. He spends forty days and nights there, in the glory. Glory, glory, glory. Before the inexpressible glory of God. (As Jesus spent forty days and nights in the wilderness, in his case being tested by satan: could the Son of God ever be torn away from the glory of God? And lose his own true character?) From here Moses will take that touch of the character of God with him, the table of stone imprinted with the ten words of command. This glory, this holiness, will not be separated from common life. It will be a holy thing, not without its own glory, if I humbly go into the coming day ready to embody God’s will.
God of grace and God of glory, God who spoke to Moses on the mountain and sustained Jesus in the wilderness with your ministering angels, I bow, poor before you. I sense your glory. I need to. I need to draw apart. I do this so feebly. I need to glorify you. I see Jesus clothed in your glory. He is clothed in my humanity and in your glory. He is beautiful. Beautiful. He is clothed in righteousness. I will not rush from here toward the new day, but when I go, when the new day begins, let me take your glory into it. As Jesus has come to me clothed in righteousness, let my faith in him be clothed in good works that honour you.