The glory of God
is wondrous, beautiful, and, let’s be honest, exciting. When God gives us a glimpse of his glory we
are undone and overwhelmed, and invariably it makes us thirsty to see his glory
more. What is more, God loves to reveal
himself and display his glory to us. So,
we in the West are often faced with the question: Why do we not experience more
of God’s manifestation? Why do we hear about
powerful miracles happening in other parts of the world and not more here at
home?

I certainly do not
have all the answers, but there are some clues. The most obvious is the cultural paradigm we inherited from the modern
era that put science and materialism on a throne. With these ruling over our mindset, anything
supernatural is suspect, and anything inexplicable can not be trusted, and thus
not believed. Where does such a paradigm
leave us when the Bible reveals that there is a spiritual reality surrounding
us in which there are many spiritual players with real power? In particular our Father, who has throughout
human history, broken in on the world he created and acted supernaturally? The rationalist paradigm relegates God to a
distant throne room where he sits on an impotent throne. Christians simply can no longer accept such a
paradigm and where needed should repent of buying into this system of thought.

 However, what I want to focus on
here are those believers who no longer buy into the above paradigm, but believe
and have seen God’s glory and power. Such experiences give rise to two camps of people. One is problematic and causes a hindrance to
the glory of God being revealed. These
are those who become glory hunters. The other is not problematic, for they are those who upon coming face to
face with the glory of God become that much more enamored by him and fall
deeply in love with him. These are those
who become glory seekers, seeking after the One that they love and
welcoming him and all that he is. 

 Glory hunters are easily
recognizable. They are people who fall
in love with the power of God. They go
from place to place hunting for the manifestation of his presence where
miracles, signs and wonders, and other supernatural events are happening. They love the rush of being in a place where
the power of God is moving. They are
often those who appear to worship with the most passion and intensity, yet
there hearts are focused not on worshiping Jesus in spirit and in truth, but on
convincing him to show his power. And
when the power of God ebbs in a place they are quick to move on from that place
and hunt down where the Spirit has “landed”. 

 There is a danger in this form of
spirituality that is fairly self-evident, but still needs to be addressed. Glory hunters have placed the focus of their
faith in the wrong place. They place God
below his own glory. Their spirituality
is out of order, for it treats God as a means to power. Ultimately they have made a subtle mistake in
their understanding that leaves them worshiping the power of God instead of God
himself, and thus make of his power a god that they attempt to reach through
him. Now that last statement is a little
wordy, but its worth rereading to get the gist of, for though it is a subtle
paradigm slip, it is important to see. 

 The consequence of this slip is a
situation in which God responds according to who he is. In Exodus 34:14 God expressly states: Do
not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God.” The result of what glory
hunters do is they effectively create an atmosphere that God does not abide
where he is not being worshiped but what he can offer is. If this is not dealt with then the eventual
result of the glory hunters’ mistake is that God removes his overt displays of
power. Now we should not miss his heart
in this. When he seemingly withdraws his
glory in such a situation it is out of love. It is meant to raise a flag that should cause us to ask the question
why? He is a gracious God who will
continually call us back to himself and refocus our spiritual eyes so that our
spirituality is lived out from the right foundation of loving him first. What glory hunters miss is this opportunity
for loving correction, for they pack up their tents and move camp to wherever
they will be able to find his power moving. 

 Glory seekers move in the opposite
direction from glory hunters. When glory
seekers see God’s glory they seek after him more. The focus of their heart is on God the giver
of good gifts and miracles. They are
grateful for his glory and power and run to his presence to tell him they love
him. They recognize that the revelation
of his glory is a display of his love and they respond in kind. This draws them deeper into knowing God. Glory seekers have a spirituality that is
God-centered first and foremost. They
are those who love him in seasons of overt displays of his glory and in seasons
of silence. Their spirituality is in
order, for they place God himself above all things.

 In John 17:20-26 Jesus prays for all
those who would become believers. In his
prayer he talks about his glory and shows what is most important to him. In verse 22-23 he says that he has given his
glory to us for this reason: that they may be one as we are one: I in them
and you in me. In verse 24 Jesus
goes on to pray telling the Father that he wants us to be with him and to see
his glory. It is Jesus desire for us
that we see and experience his glory. But we can’t stop reading there, for in verses 25 and 26 Jesus shows
what is at the heart of his desire, and it is this desire that glory seekers
connect with and understand in their spirits. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and
they know that you have sent me. I have
made you known to them, and will continue to make you known (now listen to
why:) in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I
myself may be in them. The purpose
of the revelation of God’s glory is not to display power, but is rather to make
God known and to make his love known. Back in the second part of verse 23 Jesus adds that the revelation of
his glory will bring about love and unity between us, and this will reveal to
the world the truth and reality of the Gospel. So, one of the core themes of
Jesus’ prayer is his desire for intimate relationship with us, and the
revelation and sharing of his glory comes out of that relationship and furthers
and deepens that intimacy, as well as the kingdom of heaven. Glory seekers are those who catch this vision
and seek him as a result.

 Interestingly, Moses expresses the
very same ideas in Exodus 33 where he boldly speaks to Yahweh saying If you
are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find
favor with you (verse 13). God
responds by promising to go with Moses and Israel and that he will give them
rest to which Moses gives an instructive response. In verses 15 and 16, Moses essentially says
that if God’s Presence does not go with him and Israel then no one whom they
encounter will know that God is pleased with them, nor that they are a people
who have been chosen and set apart from all others by the One True God. It is God’s presence that distinguishes them
as a people and marks them as unique and different. Just as it is the glory of Jesus that
distinguishes his Bride and marks the Church as unique from all others systems
of belief. 

 In verse 17 God says to Moses: I
will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know
you by name. The same weight and
importance being placed on relationship from Jesus prayer in John 17 is now
clear here between Yahweh and Moses. Once they have established the above agreement based on their
relationship, then Moses asks to see God’s glory. Notice the order of Moses’ spirituality
here: to know God and to be known by Him, to be accompanied by God’s presence
wherever he was to go, and then to behold God’s glory. Moses sought to lay the foundation of
relationship with Yahweh first then sought to see his glory.

 Where glory seekers are willing to
remain in community and to love one another we ought to find the presence of
Jesus and the presence of his kingdom, whether there are overt displays of his
glory and power or not. For we do not
follow his glory and power, we follow him.