“Jesus answered,
‘Don’t you know me, Philip,
even after I have been among you
such a long time?’”
John 14:9
“Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?
Who is like you—
Majestic in holiness,
Awesome in glory,
Working wonders?”
Exodus 15:11
I have been married to my husband for over 24 years and I am still learning new things about him. For as much time as I’ve spent with him, you’d think I would have known that he always wanted to be a cowboy. This Christmas, one of our daughters gave him a cowboy hat. After he tried it on and checked himself out in the mirror, he jokingly told us that now he was one step closer to living his dream! I knew that he loved riding horses and enjoyed rodeos, but I didn’t know about this fantasy of his.
In order for me to get to know my husband better, I must spend time with him. I can’t just read about him, or study him as he goes through his life. That helps me to get to know about him, but to know him, I need a relationship with him.
It is no different with God. I can know everything there is to know about God by studying the Bible daily, attending Bible studies, going to church, and listening to Biblical scholars teach, but if I don’t have a relationship with Him, I will never really know Him.
I need to live my life alongside God so I can witness how He responds to my prayers and how He provides for my needs. But I also need to be close to Him so that He can reveal things about Himself to me, open my eyes to His holiness, to unveil a bit of His glory, and show me His wonders.
Holiness
One of my favorite hymns as a child was, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” I’m not sure why I loved it so much, but every time I hear that hymn today it brings tears to my eyes. I have a greater understanding of God’s perfection and how much higher He is compared to His creation. He revealed through the prophet Isaiah that, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
As a holy God, He deserves my greatest respect. I must be careful not to minimize His position in the way that I refer to Him, in how I talk about Him, or in my attitude toward Him. It’s so easy to fall into the pattern of calling Him, “The big guy upstairs,” or casually joking about how He might strike me down if I do a certain thing, or even if I think I know why He works a particular way or that I can predict how He will work in a person’s life. He is God, and I should revere Him, honor Him, and stand in awe of Him.
Glory
Moses was pretty close to God. He knew God intimately, yet he wanted to know more. In Exodus 33 is a record of the exchange that took place between Moses and the Lord where the man talked about how he had been leading God’s people, but he wanted to know more about the Lord. He even went so far as to ask to see God’s glory. And this is when God agreed to let Moses see the backside of Him as His glory passed by. To protect Moses from the intensity, God told Moses He would, “put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:22)
When the shepherds encountered the glory of the Lord that shone around the angels who delivered the news of Jesus’ birth, they were terrified. Likewise, when Saul encountered the light from heaven on the road to Damascus, his natural response was to fall to the ground. When he arose, he had temporarily lost his sight. Jesus also showed His glory when He was transfigured on the mountain in the presence of Peter, James and John. God enveloped His glorified figure in a cloud and His voice proclaimed, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” The disciples fell to the ground in terror.
God’s splendor is beyond compare and an encounter with His perfection brings about a response of both terror in the face of such glory and reverence for the One who created all things.
Wonders
God spent a lot of time working wonders to showcase His position of The Lord our God. Many times, people were looking for signs and wonders from Jesus as well as an indication that He is, indeed, the Messiah. But His wonders are all around us. His creation speaks to His majesty.
Paul explained this in Romans 1:20. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
As I look around at all He has made, I can either take it for granted, or marvel at the intricate detail, marvelous forethought, and amazing wonders found in His creation. It is easy to rush through my day, going from task to task, completely ignoring God’s amazing handiwork all around me.
As I get to know God more intimately, He will open my eyes to His holiness, His glory and His wonders. It is up to me to pay attention.
As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I will try to grow closer to God, giving Him a chance to show me more of Himself.
Where do I close myself off from God?
How do I take Him for granted?
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