A Bold Prayer (Exodus 33:18)

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
—Exodus 33:18

There is so much in Exodus 32–34 that I would love to lead us to pray according to Exodus 32. Moses prays; he intercedes for God’s people, who were under his judgment. And God answers Moses’ prayer and saves his people from judgment. God does exactly what Moses asks him to do. It is an awesome picture of the way we participate with God in what he is doing in the world.

When you get to the beginning of Exodus 33, Moses pleads for the fullness of God’s presence with his people, saying, “I can’t do anything you’re calling me to do apart from the fullness of your presence with me and with us.” Then Moses goes into the tent of meeting to meet with God.

Exodus 33:18 pictures Moses’s relentless pursuit of God’s presence.

We see this incredible verse: God speaks with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend—this personal communion with God. But then you get to Exodus 33:18. God has answered Moses in all kinds of ways for which he has prayed. Then Moses says these words: “Please show me your glory.”

As I read this, I think, What are you talking about? This is Moses. He has seen God’s glory revealed in a burning bush—a perpetual flame that did not go out—as God spoke to him personally. This is the man who saw God perform plague after plague to show his power and glory. This is Moses, who saw God split the sea in half right in front of his eyes. He struck a rock and saw water come pouring out of it to replenish his people. He prayed for food and saw God send bread from heaven.

This is the man who, when everyone else was warned to stay away from Mount Sinai, was invited to stand on the mountain and commune with God. If anyone had seen the glory of God, it was Moses. He had seen so much.

But that is what I love about this verse: he wanted more. When you truly taste the glory of God, you develop an insatiable desire to see and experience more and more.

Exodus 33:18 teaches us to hunger for more of God’s glory.

I want to encourage you to examine your heart today. Is that desire in you when you wake up to spend time with God in the morning—or whenever you set aside that time? And that is part of the question: are you setting aside that time? And when you do, are you entering it with a desire: “God, I want to see you more. I want to know you more. I want to behold your glory more as I open your Word and spend this time with you in prayer.”?

Let that shape your praying and my praying. Let us pray as Jesus taught us: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” We want to see your name glorified in our lives.

More than we want this or that to be fixed, or this or that to go the way we desire, are we praying, “God, show your glory in this or that—even if it is not fixed the way I would want it to be, or it does not go the way I want it to go. I want to see your glory”? Even as we pray for unreached people, is that not what we are praying? “God, we want to see your glory spread in the world where your glory is not now known.”

I want to encourage us to live with this all-consuming, overwhelming desire—over and above circumstances and situations, in every detail of our lives. Let us pray Exodus 33:18: “Show your glory, O God. We want to see your glory. We want others to see your glory.”

This verse calls us to pray boldly for a glimpse of God’s greatness.

So let us pray.

God, we praise you for all the ways you have shown your glory. We praise you for your glory in the face of Jesus. Lord, we praise you for your glory in the way you have saved us, and for your glory in the way you lead us, guide us, and protect us. We praise you for all the specific ways we have seen your glory on display in our lives and in the world around us.

And we pray right now exactly what Moses prayed thousands of years ago: “Please show us your glory.” We want to see more.

God, we want to know you more. We want to experience your goodness, grace, and mercy in greater ways than we ever have before. God, we want to see your glory in the world around us. We pray that you would glorify yourself through us today. In every circumstance and situation we are walking through, we pray that you would glorify yourself. Help us point people to your glory. Help us live in such a way that people see your glory, Lord Jesus, in our lives. We pray that you would glorify yourself by leading more people around us to salvation in you.

Prayer for the Satani People

God, we pray that you would glorify yourself among the nations. We pray for the Satani people of India—500,000 of them, half a million—who do not know you or your love for them in Jesus. Glorify yourself in India by causing the gospel to spread among the Satani people. We pray for that. Glorify yourself. Let your glory fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.

And God, we pray in all this that you would make this our primary, single-minded motivation today—in school, at work, in life, in family, in church, in everything we do, and in every interaction we have. What Jesus prayed in John 12:28—“Father, glorify your name”—and what Moses prayed in Exodus 33—“Show us your glory”—we now pray. We want to know you more and exalt you more today.

May it be so. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.