Brush of Glory

There are places and times when the hungry soul is so staggered by God’s majesty that she feels His beauty deep in her bones. It changes her from the inside out, her face shining with the brightness of His face, her life becoming more and more beautiful as she becomes more and more like the One she adores.
 
My frail earthen vessel is filled with the transcendent Glory of the Eternal Majesty. The core of my innermost being contains the uncontainable God. He chose this vessel as a personal dwelling for His Name and inscribed Yahweh upon it. He is both infinitely beyond my highest thoughts and infinitely closer than the marrow in my bones. Such is the deepest mystery of heaven and earth.
“…the absolute glory of God is revealed in Jesus as absolute love, and we can only be brushed by it. Nevertheless, we are made for that which is too big for us. We are made for God, and nothing less will ever satisfy us.”[1] So, my soul longs to know Him more and trust His love for me.
In my pursuit of knowing the shining One within, I come face-to-face with Jesus Christ, the image and glory of Yahweh. Even when my surroundings are dull or grievous, He floods this clay vessel with an intensity that would burn the eyeballs out of my head but is sweet to the eyes of my heart.
A brush of His glory is overpowering, overwhelming and undoing. Even a fleeting glimpse of the blinding trail of His passing glory reduces my intellect to speechless wonder and buckles my knees. The proclamation of His Name – His ever present utter goodness and tender compassion – shakes the foundation of my very soul. My mind falls dumb and my mouth cannot express where my spirit soars, carried into the heights and depths of the incomprehensible uncreated limitless One.
So, I’m drawn into the secret grotto of my soul where He has written His Name, and stand in the light of His glory. Sometimes I stumble into the secret place half awake and distracted, but He shows up every time bathing me in His light even if my mind is dark with self-preoccupation. And it still changes me.

LORD, show me Your glory, take me into the secret grottos of Your mystery. I ask for this grace and deserve none. But I cannot resist Your tug upon my heart and the ache you have put in my bones. I yearn to see Your unseen beauty and know the unknowable…to be ravished by unquenchable love and brushed by Your glory.
[1] Manning, B. (2000). Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God. New York: HarperCollins.
 
 

Bandon Rocks

I’m dwarfed at the base of a towering pinnacle of stone rising from the sand on the coastline near Bandon. It seems top heavy, and I wonder how much more lies beneath my feet. Other massive rocks jut up next to it creating unique towers of stone left as the shoreline eroded away and exposed these great monoliths.
I climbed into a crevice between two great slabs of rock and looked up at a small ribbon of blue sky high above. In the cleft of these rocks, the wind is reduced to a breeze but the roar of the ocean seems to echo off the close walls.
My mind wanders to the story of a cleft in the rock on the top of Mt.Sinai. Moses could not bear the thought of taking one step into the wilderness without Jehovah and pleaded with Him to show him His glory. The Eternal God met Moses on the mountain, placed him in a cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand. Then God passed by proclaiming His great name in magnificent splendor.
And he passed in front of Moses, 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 34:6-7a
I can’t even begin to imagine what Moses experienced behind the hand of God in the shelter of the rock. It must have shaken from the thunder of the unutterable name of Jehovah. Overwhelmed by the splendor of the Almighty, Moses fell down in worship and cried out for forgiveness.
How can I possibly conceive of the blinding glory of God’s compassion, grace, patience, love, faithfulness and forgiveness all avalanching together in a moment? Moses must have felt on the edge of disintegration. This same God wants to show Himself to me everyday.
He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21b
Christ proclaims His compassion and faithfulness every morning. He speaks grace and forgiveness into every moment of my day. And He sings His unfailing love over my soul. If, even for moment, I could feel the power of that Voice and see His receding glory, I would be undone.
Oh, God, I cannot imagine going through life without You. If You were not at my side, how could I walk through this wilderness? Forgive my casual regard for Your Presence, and give me a greater sense of Your nearness. I want the hungry desperation for your Presence that Moses had and his boldness to beg for it. Oh, Lord, show me Your glory and grant me grace to bear it.