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Living in God's Glory

by Jerry Ousley  
4/08/2011 / Christian Living

It was a glorious moment. I had fulfilled my three year commitment of active duty to the United States Army. As a chaplain's assistant in Fort Myer, VA I had been appointed as the funds clerk. It was my duty to oversee the offerings from seven congregations, depositing them into the bank, paying the bills, placing the orders for needed materials and keeping the books straight. There was also a two week period when I was temporarily promoted as the NCO in charge of two chapels and five other chaplain's assistants. By the way, I didn't mind the extra duty but managing people was no walk through the park and to be frank, everything went smoothly in the absence of our regular NCO because I wound up doing most of the work.

I hadn't done it to gain recognition. At the risk of sounding my own horn it was really just my desire to do my job to the best of my ability and fulfill my three year obligation. After that I was more than anxious to return to civilian life.

The moment I'm speaking about took place the day before I was to leave Fort Myer heading for home, returning to my wife and young son. We were actually going to be a family again and I couldn't wait. I was informed the day before by my NCO that a small ceremony was being held in my honor at the main chapel and I was to show up in my dress greens. Had I been staying in the military I would have needed to purchase a new set of dress greens because I had gained so much weight in that three year period that when I had them on I had to be real careful about bending over or sitting down too fast if you know what I mean. I would have definitely been out of uniform with my drawers showing from behind! My dress jacket fit so tightly when buttoned up that I had to breathe slowly and consciously to keep from popping a button.

That day they awarded me with the Army Medal of Commendation for my work while at Fort Myer and Arlington Cemetery. Several high ranking chaplains were there including the head chaplain of the Army from the Pentagon. It was indeed a great honor and, as I said, a glorious moment, but any pride I may have felt was overshadowed by the fear of breathing too hard and popping a button into the eye of the head chaplain of the army (who was a general by the way). That would not have been a good thing!

When Moses was on Mount Sinai the second time and God was about to rewrite the commandments on the two tables of stone Moses had hewed out (to replace the ones he had thrown down and broken) we read in Exodus 34:6-7, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin'" There's more to that passage but what we've quoted covers the subject for today.

God's glory was so real, so visible and so magnificent that after He spoke these words to Moses the man was changed forever. Instead of merely fearing God and thinking of Him in the thunder and lightning, seeing Him as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, he was now drawn to actually worship the LORD. He had witnessed God's glory.

We can only see the effects of glory. Our own glory comes as an elevation in the eyes of others, but we know that it is there by the results of what we do. It is a glory that pales when placed against that of God. The glory of God is such that brightness and a glow actually emanate from Him. Our own glory is nothing compared to that of God's.

In His glory those things that He proclaimed about Himself bathe us as we live in Him. Mercy, grace, longsuffering (which is being patient), goodness and truth which plentifully abound fall on us and around us. Now maybe there are times in our lives when it doesn't seem like we're being showered with these things. It could be that we have gone through periods where it didn't even feel like God was there or cared, and perhaps some are feeling this way right now.

But let's turn to Him and clear our mind of the troubles, sicknesses, worries and fears of the day. In our spirits let's gaze upon the glory of God and as we do we just may begin to see those wonderful things falling like rain all around us. Yes, we can live in the glory of God!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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