Glory

“God, we pray that you would show up here tonight.”
I have heard that prayer prayed countless times before concerts, camps and worship services, and it has always puzzled me how nonchalantly it is usually uttered.
Perhaps I misunderstand the intention of those words, but usually following them, there is music, misty eyes, a good speaker and lots of emotions. When we leave the room, however, those words suddenly vanish from our minds and we go about our business as usual.
Not so when God “showed up” at Mount Sinai. Moses and God’s people had been waiting for this day—the day they would receive the law. God gave them clear instructions for what they were to do in order for this to happen. They obeyed. God told Moses to meet him on the mountain. He obeyed.
God spoke, the people listened and God showed up, changing the course of their lives forever.
The point? The glory of God is not tamable. We can’t expect to hold the reins of God’s glory and control where it goes with a little tug to the right or the left.
Rather than expecting God to magically appear when we need to temporarily feel something, we should be listening for God to call out to us from the midst of the cloud (even though we can’t see through it) so we can be changed permanently. We may feel like he isn’t “showing up” when we need him to, but the point isn’t always to call out to God with a desperate plea for help. Sometimes, just as Moses waited for six days on the mountain before God called out to him, we must wait on God to call out to us rather than expecting him to provide immediate answers or instant emotional gratification.
So whatever may be troubling you today, remember that God, in his incomprehensible glory, doesn’t always just “show up” to make us feel better about ourselves. His purpose (thankfully) is much bigger than that! Sometimes he is simply waiting for us to be still and listen long enough for him to call out to us from the cloud.