God’s Goodness Is His Glory

By Dwayne Moore

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Exodus 33:18-19 NIV).

In all of my years of reading this amazing account of Moses’ intimate encounter with his God, I admit I have always skimmed over the word, “goodness.” I just took it to mean God passed by with his backside. I missed the tremendous significance of that little word. The Lord said He would cause all His goodness to pass in front of Moses.

Of this passage Matthew Henry commented profoundly: “The Lord granted that which would abundantly satisfy. God’s goodness is his glory; and he will have us to know him by the glory of his mercy, more than by the glory of his majesty.”

So here is the rather obvious application for any of us who lead others in worship. You want them to experience God’s glory in your services? Then choose lots of songs and scriptures that talk of His love and sacrifice. Rock the cross and the resurrection! Proclaim the Gospel clearly and boldly.

The Good News is that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Never hesitate to emphasize the awesome goodness of God. He is the merciful and compassionate One. He is the HOPE this world needs!

That’s not to say we shouldn’t talk and sing of His greatness and justice. Of course we should! He is the almighty, omniscient God who created the heavens and the earth. He is worthy to be praised because He is the One true King of kings and Lord of lords. Fact is, before anyone can really appreciate His mercy, we must first realize He is the awesome, just and righteous God.

Nonetheless, the lesson we can take from God revealing His glory to Moses in Exodus 33 is that our Lord wants us first to know Him as good. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love…” (1 John 4:16a NLT).

Check your songs. Evaluate your words and facial expressions. What are you and I communicating? Whether from a platform on Sundays or from our Facebook accounts or from daily conversations with co-workers and friends, do others see Jesus’ love and kindness through what we share with them? To put it another way, do they see God’s glory in us?

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