Annie
Scriptures: Isaiah 6 Psalm 19 1 Peter 1:13-16; 21 Exodus 33:8-10 Isaiah 42:8 Isaiah 48:11
The whole earth IS FILLED with the Glory of God.
With our eyes we see this world around us with all its confusion and trouble, all the wars, all the natural disasters and fears of a global pandemic, and then we read in Isaiah that the seraphim are crying out that the whole earth IS filled with the Glory of God. And we read that from the moment he heard it, Isaiah was a different person.
What was it in that encounter that moved Isaiah so much? He was overwhelmed by the holiness of God and in absolute awe, which immediately led him to responding to God to go wherever God sent him. It seems that God’s Holiness is synonymous with His Glory, unless we stand in awe of His Holiness we will never be fully aware of His Glory.
Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the Glory of God, they give us a precious yet minute glimpse into His Glory. Travelling towards a sunset with peacock blue sky melding into golden horizon a few weeks ago was breathtaking, and this is what we saw with our limited human eyesight. Imagine if we could see the whole spectrum through God’s unlimited perfect vision. But, even though this is beyond us physically, the reality that God’s Glory is so much more beautiful and magnificent than we can see with our eyes, can be revealed to uswhen we humble ourselves and seek to more deeply and personally know God. As we seek to be holy even as He is Holy, we learn to stand in absolute awe of God and His Glory.
God spokewith Moses when He descended in the cloud at the door of the Tabernacle, Mosesknew the reality of God’s Holiness and Glory. And all the people who were standing in their tent doorways were aware of this. They rose and worshipped God right where they were. They were in awe of the Holiness of God.
John Piper, in his words, makes a stab at defining God’s Glory this way: “the glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness. It is the going-public of his holiness. It is the way he puts his holiness on display for people to apprehend. So, the glory of God is the holiness of God made manifest.” What he says resonates with me so much, it puts succinctly what I feel deep inside me. God is Holy, set apart, and says He will not give His Glory to another, confirming that His Glory is set apart from every other created being, but if we are to be Light in this dark world, we need to reflect His Glory. The only way to do this is to live in His Holiness, to be absorbed by His beauty in His creation, in all He does.
To see and reflect His Glory, is to glorify Him. It is to live in awe and adoration of our God whose Glory surrounds us; to separate ourselves into His Holiness so that we will no longer be deceived by prince of this world who blinds our eyes.
Prayer: Dear Glorious God, as we humbly surrender to you, sanctify us and make us holy that we will see Your Glory, the manifest beauty of Your Holiness in all You do, in all You have created, in all that is waiting for us. Through the Name above all Names we pray, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.