If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that occasionally we learn a Biblical phrase that you can incorporate into your prayer life.

We often ask for things we want in our prayers, but Moses asked for something that most of us probably haven’t considered. Moses said to God, “Please, show me Your glory!”

Have you ever asked God to show you His glory? We might not physically see YHWH “in the flesh” but there are ways we can experience His glory, so why not ask for it? Why have we never considered asking for it? In a world obsessed with power and money and prestige, wouldn’t it be nice to see what authentic glory looks like?

Let’s look at the context of this story, when Moses made this special request:

Exodus 33:12-23

Then Moses said to YHWH, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favour in My sight.’ Now then, if I have found favour in Your sight in any way, please let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favour in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”

And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favour in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?”

YHWH said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favour in My sight and I have known you by name.”

Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”

And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of YHWH before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” Then YHWH said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 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. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

The truth is, humans want to see (and be seen by) God. They want to see the Presence of YHWH; they want to look upon His Glory, and they want to be recognized by the God who created them. This was the desire of Moses; it should be our desire too.
So I encourage you to include this line in your prayers: YHWH, please show me Your Glory! How do we say this?

Ha-r’eyni na et k’vodeka

הַרְאֵ֥נִי נָ֖א אֶת־כְּבֹדֶֽךָ

HA-R’EYNI (Show me)

NA (please)

ET (A definite direct object marker. It’s like saying “from beginning to end” and it is made up of the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet)

K’VODEKA (Your glory)

Ha-r’eyni na et k’vodeka

Show me, please, (from beginning to end) Your Glory.

YHWH is the great Creator. We see His glory in what He has created. But we, sometimes, don’t pay attention to the beautiful world around us. We are surrounded by His glory, but we ignore it. There is something to the phrase, “stop, and smell the roses”.

So, if you can’t remember how to pray, “Show me, please, Your glory”, how about you ask God this:

Let me see the beauty of Your Creation through Your eyes and not my own.

We’re a judgy bunch, but if we look at Creation the way God does, we can see each and every human as worthy of God’s love.

The world is full of God’s beauty and His glory, but we are not to worship the plants, or the stars, or the animals, or what some people call “Mother Earth”. And it’s certainly not right to worship another human being, no matter how wealthy or talented they are. Humans bear the image of God, but they are not God themselves… and anyone who claims to be all-powerful, or divine, or a supreme leader, they are playing a dangerous game. They are not glorious… they are ordinary. They are ordinary, ego-centric, self-absorbed people who worship their own desires above all else. No! We worship the most glorious God, Creator of all things, and He sees His Creation as “very good”, with the potential to be glorious. If we walk alongside YHWH with self-sacrificing love and humility, then our eyes will be open to the glory of God that is all around us. We need to see the beauty of Creation through the forgiving eyes of YHWH, not our own.

When Moses said to YHWH, “Please, show me Your glory!” What did he want to see? Looking at the passage carefully, the words see, sight and show repeat over and over.

See… in My sight… in Your sight… My Presence… Your Presence… in Your sight… in My sight… Please show me Your glory!... I will show… I will show… You cannot see my face… mankind shall not see Me and live… You shall see My Back… My Face shall not be seen.

To see is to believe, but Moses is asking for something even greater. Earlier in the passage Moses said this to YHWH: “Please let me know Your ways so that I may know You”. Asking to see God’s glory was another way of asking to understand and know God. God’s response? I’ll show you My back, but you cannot see My face. You are not physically able to withstand my glory. You need an intercessor… someone to show you what My glory truly looks like.

Yeshua (Jesus) would be that intercessor. Humans failed the directive to live in unity and reflect God’s glory. They were expelled out of the Garden because of their disobedience. But God immediately put a plan into place to save them.

Yeshua was God’s glory in full sight for all humans to see. And His glory looked like this: caring for the wounded, the despised, the orphaned, the poor, the widowed, the diseased, the downcast, and the foreigner. This is what we are also to do, as ones who bear the image of God. Yehsua also listened to people’s stories; He showed mercy and kindness to others, and exhibited strength and determination for the task He was given. He was a Servant to the people, a Son to all humankind, and in His servitude He would swallow up the sin of humanity so that they could be set free… Free to see God, face to face, without the threat of death over their heads. He paid the entrance fee to God’s Kingdom with His life, for all of us. Giving up your life for your friends… that’s God’s Glory.

Moses wanted to see God’s glory… He saw a glimpse, but through Yeshua we have the perfect view of what God’s glory really looks like: all consuming, self-sacrificing, love.

So should we still pray to see it? Yes! I think we constantly need to be reminded of God’s glory. We live in a time where it’s getting harder and harder to see the glory of God around us. And if we can’t see it, it’s really hard to emulate it.

Yeshua once said something very interesting about children:

Matthew 18:10

“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones; for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

The innocence of young children allows them to see and experience the face of YHWH in the world around them, before they learn to judge and hate and compare. They see God’s glory better than adults because they are not burdened by the weighty things of this earth: the desire and addiction of power, dominance, wealth, and prestige that is all around us.

In our prayers we ought to be child-like… curious and sincere, free of judgement, open to learning and always loving. With this kind of mindset, go ahead and pray this prayer:

Ha-r’eyni na et k’vodeka