For some reason, “Show me Your glory” reminds me of that famous line in “Jerry Maguire” where Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., is repeatedly making his agent, Jerry Maguire, played by Tom Cruise, scream out, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!” It’s hilarious (full disclosure – cussing on the clip!). In the movie, Rod wants to make more money as a professional football player, and since Jerry was in charge of squeezing out as much cash for him as possible, Rod was holding Jerry to his commitment. Rod had taken a risk with Jerry, and he was holding his feet to the fire and counting on him to come through. But we learn later, there was a problem originating from Rod. He wasn’t giving it his all when he was playing football, so try as he may, Jerry couldn’t get him more money. Towards the end of the movie, Rod finally gets it and doesn’t hold back on the field. Then, of course, he gets all of the accolades and everyone’s happy. There’s another sappy storyline of course, with another famous line about how Jerry “completes” his love interest Dorothy Boyd, played by Renée Zellweger, but I digress. For all intents and purposes, that’s the movie (sorry for the spoiler if you’ve never seen the movie!).
Although there’s a different story in God’s Word about “Show me your glory,” there are some surprising similarities. In Exodus 33, Moses had already seen the handiwork of the LORD. Moses marveled at the burning bush. He had experienced the judgments imposed on Egypt. He had watched as the LORD parted the Red Sea. He had even seen God give the people of Israel water out of a rock. Moses and the people of Israel should be well acquainted with the LORD and Who He is and what He can do. Moses knew he could put his trust in God, just like Rod put his trust in Jerry.
So why in the world does Moses seem to ask God for even more? Why does he ask to show more of Himself? Was Moses asking Him to further prove Who He was, like Rod was asking Jerry in “Jerry McGuire”?
This is where the analogy breaks apart and the storylines completely go their own way. Once Rod got what he wanted, Jerry and he were still good friends, but it wasn’t as if Jerry needed Rod anymore. Why? Because Rod knew what he had to do and he didn’t really need Jerry to help him anymore. His goal was reached. Mission accomplished. But with Moses, something much bigger was going on. It wasn’t about him at all.
Rod had a job to do, he realized he had the skills to do it, he did it and got paid well. The End. But Moses had a job to do, he did NOT have the skills to do it, he did it with the LORD pushing him along and enabling him, and the LORD got the glory as Israel was brought to the edge of their Promised Land. To be continued. Hallelujah. Praise God.
We may have our own small plans that we can muscle through on our own. The accomplishments may feel awesome temporarily, but they are fleeting and will never truly satisfy. I’ll never forget when I heard Walter Payton being interviewed after the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl in ’87 (my family was living in Chicago at the time and I knew the Super Bowl Shuffle well! Go Bears!). They had just won, he was at the pinnacle of his career, and he was reflecting on when he went into the locking room and thought to himself, “Now what? Is that it??” We will all be left with a yearning inside ourselves that we will never be able to satiate on our own when we are seeking out our own accomplishments and our own glory.
Not so with God. When we walk with Him, we will be satisfied. The only caveat is that we continually need to go to Him and seek out His glory above all else. We must continue to be shown His glory so that we can walk in the good works (Eph. 2:10; Phil 2:13) that He has called us to do. We must be shown His glory so that we can stand firm against the evil and wickedness that surrounds us. When we are shown His glory, we are strengthened and reminded of Who He is. Who we are pales in comparison and is irrelevant to Who He is. He wants us not be focused on ourselves (as in Jerry Macguire), but on Him. That is how we fulfill our purpose and find true satisfaction – in humble obedience to our LORD and Savior as we regularly seek to be shown His glory.
I am so thankful that He has chosen us all for such a time as this. We don’t know what lies ahead, but we know that we can trust God. But if I’m honest, I am also scared. There is a whole lot that is unknown and frankly, terrifying in a lot of ways about the future. However, this again reminds me that I just need to seek out His glory, every day, every hour, every moment. He is there. He is good. And He is faithful. That’s all we need to know. Come what may, the LORD will always be with us. Amen?
For an awesome sermon about this, I highly recommend listening to Steve Lawson’s sermon from the G3 Conference called, “Show me Your glory.” The sermon was the inspiration for this post. It’s excellent!
