"Then Moses said, 'Now, show me Your glory.'" Ex.33:18

"And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it." Is. 40:5

"Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified in it.'" John 11:4

The "glory of God"…what is it? The Old Testament Hebrew word for glory is "kabod" and it literally means "weightiness"…God's "oomph", His bigness, His one-of-a-kindness that sets Him apart from all others. That’s what it is; or is it? What is this 'substance', this mysterious element of God's persona?

We would all have our own definitions. Some of us would answer "it is His power." Others would say, "It is those goose bumps you get in church." Whatever it is, God sure seems jealous for it to be displayed, and, in Isaiah, He promises a time when all of mankind will "see" it.

When you "see" God's glory, what do you see? Do you see people "falling under the power?" Do you see miracles? Do you see "gold dust and angel feathers" falling from the sky? Do you see the rocks split in two and the earth shake, as Elijah did? What do you see when you see the glory of God, when that glory is revealed?

I don't know the entire answer to that. But I do know of a man who had a front-row seat when God decided to reveal His glory. He was a witness to God's self-revelation.

Moses was said to be a friend of God, who talked with Him as you would talk to a man. When Moses went to the tent of meeting to pray, the cloud that represented the manifest presence of God would lift and go over to that tent to meet with Moses. Moses and the God of Israel were ‘thick’!  They walked together in intimacy.

So, in one of these intimate encounters, Moses thought "I'd like to be closer still" and he dared to make this request: "Show me Your glory."

The Father's response was a bit surprising, and to the more sensational among us, probably a bit disappointing. He didn't say, "OK..watch THIS Moses.." and then fling a new galaxy into existence. He did not reveal His power, nor show off His omniscience. No, He defined His glory one way: "I will cause all My goodness to pass before you." After putting Moses in a safe place inside the cleft of a rock (so that this pure 'goodness' wouldn’t kill a sinful man) He "passed before him, proclaiming 'The Lord, the Lord, the COMPASSIONATE and GRACIOUS God, SLOW to anger, ABOUNDING in LOVE and FAITHFULNESS, maintaining LOVE to thousands and FORGIVING wickedness, rebellion, and sin.'"(Exodus 34:6)

Hmmm! Think of that: the God of all creation has this one great chance to show off His glory and what does He do? He declares His character, not His power! WOW! God's glory is His goodness!

Ask any jeweler and he will tell you that the attributes of a diamond are best 'shown off' against a completely black backdrop, such as black velvet. The contrast with the darkness exposes the brilliance of the light and beauty of the gem. God's glory is the most brilliant of diamonds; His goodness stands alone, unique among all beings. There is NO one as good, as loving, as compassionate, as kind, as faithful, as He. Against the backdrop of this dark world, He shines in brilliance.

Against the darkest of circumstances, His glory, His goodness, can be most clearly revealed. In YOUR circumstances of disease, poverty, illness, cruel relationships, etc., He longs to manifest His goodness, as He did when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Have you ever wondered why "Jesus wept" when He saw Mary, Martha, and the others weeping? He wept because of His 'glory': He is "compassionate" (remember Exodus 34?), and their tears moved him.

All it takes is faith to release the glory and goodness of God into your circumstances. As Jesus said to Mary, standing at her brother's tomb: "Did I not tell you if you BELIEVED you would SEE the glory of God?" (John 11:41).

God has purposed that "His glory will be revealed and that all mankind would see it." Against the backdrop of impossibilities, whether a terminal illness, a lost job, or failing marriage, call forth the glory of God into your circumstances! He is jealous for His glory; He longs for His goodness to be seen: His compassion, His mercy, His love, His faithfulness, and His forgiveness. It is up to us to appropriate, through faith and believing prayer, that gracious God to 'show Himself' in our circumstances.