Sermon by Eishah Smith, Sunday, July 20, 2025, at Tri Action Life Center
Have you ever played “Hide and Seek” with a small child? It’s one of the most enjoyable things you can do in life. If you have, then you understand. The main objective of the game is for the seeker to find all the hidden players before time runs out, and for players to hide so well the seeker runs out time. And then the game begins again.
But little children can’t wait to be found! They are so filled with excitement and anticipation, they end up giggling and wiggling when they should be still and quiet. If you take too long, they’ll starting whispering loudly, “I’m over here!” “Come find me!”
God is often just like a little child. Colossians 1:26,27 tell us that God has hidden His glory for ages and generations, and He can’t wait for us to find it. He has hidden it from the world, from unbelievers, and from casual readers. If you want to find it, you’ll have to look beneath the surface. Yet He’s constantly moving things around, dropping clues, calling out to us, making His presence obvious. Well, I’ve been searching and digging, and I found a piece of glory I’d love to share with you.
The Glory Formula
2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV) gives us the formula. “But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Seek the Lord with your whole heart. Jeremiah 29:13,14 (NIV) explains, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…” The key to finding God’s glory is in searching for it with the whole heart. Then God becomes actively engaged in being found.
Hold onto the glory He shows you. When God answers, hold onto what ever He shows you. Jeremiah 33:3 (AMP) says “Call unto me, and I will answer you and tell you [even show you] great and mighty things [things which have been confined and hidden] which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.” God will show you glorious things in answer to an earnest search for more. Hold onto that. More glory will be revealed as you hold it.
Let that glory change you. Again 2 Corinthians 3:18 (AMP), this time in another version, makes the promise more plain. “But we all with unveiled faces, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Moses’ View of God’s Glory
One illustration of this process is found in the Old Testament story of the the ancient Israelites. In 2 Corinthians, Paul is expounding on the story of Exodus 33 and 34 about one conversation between God and Moses on the top of a mountain. Moses asked God “Show me your glory.” He might have been thinking, How can I lead this people without it? He sincerely needed a greater assurance of God’s power and presence.
God agreed, but warned Moses that he couldn’t see God’s face and live. So God put Moses in a cleft, or split, in the rock to shield him, covered the cleft with His hand while He passed by, and took His hand away so Moses could see His back. As He passed, He also declared His name and the attributes of His character. All of this was too much, and Moses fell on his face and worshipped.
When Moses finished the conversation, got up, and came down the mountain, his face was glowing so brightly the people couldn’t look at him. He had to wear a veil over his face when he interacted with people, but he spoke to God face to face without the veil. As no one could look at God’s face and live, similarly no one could look at Moses’ face. The vision of God he received in answer to his earnest request, stayed with him long after, and changed him into the same kind of image.
Glory in our Day
I’ve had a similar experience. In my own way I’ve asked God, Show me your glory, because I need to know how to become like God and lead others to do the same. I didn’t get a full answer until I was in the middle of my grief. As my mother was in hospice and we were preparing for the end of life, God showed me the fiery nature of His own character I’d been running from when I saw it in my mother. My fear of it had been keeping me from the depth of relationship I longed for with her. When I understood that, I took my mother’s fiery spirit as a parting gift. It was then that I realized that her fire was already a part of me, and I’d been running from being my full self as well. Beyond that, accepting her fire took away my fear of saying “Yes!” to God and letting Him take control.
A moment will come in your life when you’ll need more from God than you’d previously had, and you’ll call out, “Show me your glory!” Don’t be surprised if God answers you from the middle of a situation where He’s hidden some glory. It might be the middle of your grief, pain, or illness; or responsibility, duty, or sacrifice. But He’s calling you to follow Him because there’s a glory in it you can only see from that position.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean to diminish or belittle what you’re going through. Wrong is wrong. Injustice is not right. Tragedy is tragedy. Illness is unfair, and death is definitely the enemy. But sometimes, there is a glory hidden in it that can only be seen from the middle. It might be a view of God’s character you can only see from that spot. Maybe He’ll show you his view of you that you hadn’t seen or accepted before. Perhaps He’ll show you why and how much He loves you, or why and how much He loves someone around you.
Remember, hold on to what he shows you. Sit with it. Think about it. Feel the feelings. Name them. Accept them. Even if they’re hard to take. Beholding, or holding in your mind’s eye, will change you into that image. The glory of God you hold onto will change you into His image, into the new you, the new glory. And the hidden glory that gets uncovered and activated on the inside, will show up on the outside in due time.
From Glory to Glory
This story is my new life and lifework. I want to live open-faced, unveiled before God, and whole-souled before others. I want to be changed, transformed into an agent of transformation to help others seek God. If we continue seeking the Lord with our whole hearts and unveiled faces, holding the mighty things God will show us, we will be changed from glory to glory, from glory to Glory, from Glory to GLORY, all the way into the highest GLORY…!!
Reflections
Where can you start or continue seeking God?
What glory has God already revealed to you?
What in your life needs to change?
Share in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you’re learning.
Leave a comment