Trust: The Glory of God

This is the second post in a weekly series of mini-devotionals on TRUST, which is the theme of the 2015 June 2 Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. This letter goes to the members of the Prayer for Prodigals community, but it is true for all of us. 

 Dear Lover of Prodigals,

The past few weeks have been filled with glory of God for me.  The grandeur of the Colorado mountains.   The peaceful beauty of bluebonnet-clad Texas hill country.  The faces of my seven grandchildren.Even my reflection in the mirror.What?  Yes, we are a reflection of the glory of God.

All of these, and the amazing glory of creation all around us, are just shadowy hints at the glory of God.

The Hebrew word for the glory of God is kabod.  It is a comprehensive word with many shades of meaning. The most basic definition is “weight.”  It can connote heaviness, wealth, rank, status, power.  To the children of Israel it meant the greatness, eminence, power, authority and majesty of God.

Even those “weighty” words were insufficient to capture the “glory of God.”  A greater description could be “a light so brilliant that Yahweh himself is rendered invisible by the brilliance." (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:12, 3:23, 8:4, 10:18ff)

Moses wanted to see the face of God, the glory of God, but God said no.  He could see only His back for “no one sees me and still lives.”

Yet we can see Him.  Jesus reveals the Father—He is the light of the world who shares in the luminous brilliance of His father.  He tells us that when we see Him, we see the Father.

When John was transported in his revelation vision we read,

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw….someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace,  and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. “ (Revelation 1: 12-17)

John did just what we should do when we get even small glimpses of the “back” of God, when we experience hints of His glory: He fell on his face, and so should we.

Too often I settle for such a small comprehension of God and His glory.  I think most of us accept a puny picture of our great God.

Though we don’t have the capacity to see the full glory of God, He does reveal Himself to us in many ways.  The magnificence of creation and the beauty of those made in His image—you and I—show His glory and loveliness most profoundly.

Every time we see God being true to His own character, we catch a glimpse of that glory.  Each time we discover that He is with us, loves and accepts us, keeps His promises, we grasp that He is trustworthy. Whenever we receive answers to prayer and surprise gifts from Him, we understand that He is faithful.

We recognize that we can trust Him.

As we walk the wilderness path of loving a prodigal, our only hope of surviving and thriving is to know that we can trust God.  Our only hope of wooing our loved ones back to God and to us is to let the light and glory of God shine through us.

In the next weeks we will look at more aspects of the trustworthiness of God and how that will sustain us and recapture our prodigals.

Trusting in Him,

Judy

c2015 Judy Douglass

If you would be interested in requesting prayer for a prodigal loved one, or being a part of our wonderful praying community, respond in comments or write to me at PrayerforProdigals at gmaildotcom.