Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”[1]
To this point, Moses had already been a man of God’s presence. He had “seen the God of Israel” with the seventy elders, and more than that he ascended alone with Joshua into the cloud of consuming fire itself. He had heard the voice of God instruct him with a pattern for Israel’s worship. He saw the judgment of God in the slaying of three thousand men. He interceded for the nation and heard of God’s righteousness to punish the sinner. And yet he asks this daring request: “Show me Your glory!”
One wonders what transpired in Moses’ mind as he asked this question. Was he really asking to see the kind of glory for which God would kill a man? What more could Moses see than what he already experienced? It seems that whereas Moses saw the consuming fire of God, he understood that a greater depth existed: he wanted to know God’s heart. Thus, we hear God speaking of His goodness and of His face.
When that moment came, the moment of revelation, “Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.”[2] He knew of no other appropriate response. God had revealed to him the depths: what more could a creature of dust do than bow low toward the ground from whence he was created? Moses’ theology broke him.
Theology should be our act of requesting a view of God’s glory. It should be our channel into the mystery of God—not that we will ever understand the mystery, but that we will ever pursue it as did Moses. Knowing God is neither a science to be practiced nor an art to be mastered. It is of a class all its own. A theologian is not an academic so much as he is a worshiper. Theology does not teach us great things so much as it causes us to bow at the simplest attributes of God. If your theology does not break you, it certainly won’t inform you. If your theology does not drive you into a mysterious dissatisfaction yet contentment when pursuing the knowledge of God, it may not be the God of the Bible you are pursuing. The gravity of knowing God! This is the first principle of true theology. Let us not trifle with Him. God is about to show us His glory if we are ready to receive it. May we be ready to bow when He does.
[1] Exodus 33:18-20
[2] Exodus 34:8
