How
would you describe the glory of God? If you had to sum up the glory
of God in human words, what would it be? When Moses cried out to the
Lord, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!” God told Moses
that he could not see God’s face or he would die. But the God
who would not show Moses His face, showed him His glory as He revealed
Himself and His glory in one of the most quoted sayings in the Old
Testament.
“Then
the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the
Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding
in lovingkindness and truth…” Exodus 34:6
God
describes His glory as He describes His dealings with sinful men in
compassion and lovingkindness. David, six hundred years later, was
inspired by the Spirit of God to repeat this description of God in
a song found in Psalm 145, followed by these words.
“The
Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.”
How
will we describe the glory of God? We will say with Moses and David
that the glory of God is seen most clearly in His mercy and compassion
as He deals with sinners who transgress His Law. Our sin demands death,
but our God delivers compassion! Jesus, God’s righteous provision
of mercy for sinners, told of a tax-gatherer, overwhelmed with his
sin, as he came to the temple to worship.
“…the
tax-gatherer…was even unwilling to life up his eyes to heaven,
but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me,
the sinner!”
Luke 18:13
How
will we describe the glory of God? We will say with the apostle Paul,
“God,
who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the
One who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory
of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
and
we will sing with the hymn writer, “Come, Thou Fount of every
blessing,
tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.”
