Seeking God's goodness and glory (Seven Habits)

S -  Exodus 33:18-23, Psalm 16:1-2 (NASB)

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ 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.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face,for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”




Psalm 16
¹ Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. 
² I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; 
I have no good besides You.”


O - I think I know a little how Moses must have felt.   He had been following God's direction for some time as he led the Israelites from captivity, through the desert.  He had spoken with God many times on the mountain, and understood who God was. He also understood who the people where and there tendencies, and felt a bit burdened to lead these people.  At the same time He followed the commands of the Lord to lead the people to the promised land, He interceded for them when they sinned, and He got to see God's anger with His people.   Moses was just looking for a source of energy and hope when he prays to see God's glory.   As we see God knows this is not possible, but He does reveal all that Moses can handle, in fact he reveals so much that after these interactions Moses' face shown with the Glory of God and he wore a veil after that to conceal it because the people feared even that small taste of God's glory. Centuries later, we see  God's man , David, proclaiming a similar heart in a different fashion.   He comes humbling to the Lord and takes refuge in Him.  He knows that the only true Good is God.  I believe Moses wanted that same refuge in God's glory, and both show attributes of humble servants of God, recognizing there significance, and God's glory.


A  -  The lesson for me is to recognize that these great leaders of God's people, both humbly submitted themselves unto God, and God was able to use them in kingdom ways.  The key was there humble approach to God, to have more of God, more of His goodness and glory in their lives.  The truth is that the leading God's people in the world; leading the world to know God, is a God sized task, and that any leader who takes up that calling needs to humbly seek God's goodness and glory to power and lead themselves, so they may lead God's people.


P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would help me to to live and teach this leadership principle of great godly leaders like David and Moses.  I pray Lord that you would show me your glory, that Lord you would cover me in your goodness, and show me all that is good in your eyes.  I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.