Show me your goodness Read Exodus 33:18-23
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- We all ask God for things. Its natural. He’s God. We’re not. He can do big things, we can’t.
- So we ask. We pray. We implore, beg and maneuver our way to get from God.
- John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
- That’s a powerful verse! I hope you’re asking God for all the things.
- And many times, God answers those prayers when we want, how we want. Glorious
- But what about when we ask for something and we get something else?
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- In this scripture, that’s what we see- Moses asking God to “show me your glory”
- It’s a fair request. Moses wants to See God. Since Adam, no one has been closer to God
- Moses wants to see the fullness of God, so he can understand who he’s dealing with.
- It’s not a outlandish request. Job, Philip, The Disciples, Thomas, Paul. All wanted the same
- Many of you want to see God as well! That’s why you’re here! You want to see who God is
- To see God is a desire of the heart of man! You know you were created- want to see creator!
- Revelation 22:4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
- People love to see famous people! Me- Arnold, Jordan, Kareem x2, Vanilla Ice, Mixalot
- Ed Sheeran 10 million, Garth Brooks 10 million, Michael Jackson 12.4 million, Taylor Swift 19 million, Coldplay 20 million, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 20 million, U2 30 million, The Rolling Stones 50 million.50 million attendees is a HUGE number! Over a whole career- 50 million attendees wanted to say- I Saw the Rolling Stones- Anyone here ever seen the stones? Can anyone name who had even MORE live attendees than the Stones?
- Total Live Audience: Approximately 215 million people. over 185 countries and territories.
- In 1973, Seoul, South Korea, a crowd of 1.1 million people in a single event.
- Total Audience Including Media: When accounting for radio and television broadcasts, his estimated lifetime audience exceeded 2.2 billion people.
- None other than the Evangelist Billy Graham! – why? PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW GOD
- That’s what Moses was going after I want to see God! So what does he do? HE ASKS
- 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” And what does God answer?
- 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you”
- Huh? Isn’t that Just like God- We ask for something and HE decides how he’s going to answer
- Doesn’t seem fair to me. If I’m asking for something, I’d sure like to get what I asked for.
- To see the goodness of God, realize you wont always get what you ask for
- Moses asked to see the Glory of God and God showed him his goodness instead.
- It is well within God’s parameters to give us what HE thinks we need not what WE want.
- Job wanted to understand his suffering, God showed him his power instead.
- Israel asked for a king like other nations, God gave them Saul.
- Elijah asked to die, God gave him rest, rejuvenation and a renewed mission
- Disciples asked Jesus to restore the kingdom of Israel, he gave them the Kingdom of God.
- Moses wanted to enter the promised land, God let him see it from a distance
- Paul Wanted the ‘thorn in the flesh’ removed, God gave him grace and strength.
- You’ve experienced this! I know you have! It’s frustrating! The answer isn’t always deliverance
- You ask God for one thing and he gives you something else or the opposite! WHY O WHY
- So you ask to see God’s glory- you want to see God- and what does he say?
- I’m going to show you my glory through my goodness and that will reveal my glory
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
- Soooo instead of seeing you and experiencing you I get some affliction which will be better
- It’s the ol’ Mr Myagi trick- I want to learn Karate but instead I learn to paint the fence, sand the floor and wax on wax off. I signed up to learn karate but instead I’m learning maintenance.
- It’s a biblical message! Some of you may not have seen this movie- but when it clicked that the master was teaching the student something he didn’t understand? We all cheered
- And then the next day at school everyone was wax on wax off. Because we LOVED IT.
- Moses wanted to see God, but God knew that seeing his GOODNESS would do more for Moses than simply just seeing his face. So God gave him what HE knew would be best, not what moses wanted.
- What does he say? I’ll show you my compassion, my grace, but you cant handle my glory
- God even goes so far as to say look at my back as a pass by- no one can handle seeing me.
- For you- if you want to see the goodness of God, embrace that it may not be what u want.
- Trust God- say ‘show me your goodness’ and he will, but it may not be as you expected.
- To understand the Goodness of God realize your limits.
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- Moses thought he could handle God but God knew what Moses could handle
- 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
- What moses thought he needed and what he thought he could endure was established and executed by Yahweh himself because God knows the sum of the parts. Moses couldn’t do it.
- So what does he do? Gives him a glimpse. Because that’s all he’s capable of.
- In Moses’ mind, he more than likely assumed that he could handle the fullness of God. No.
- The reality is that no one can handle the fullness of God including Moses.
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- The MAIN issue here is understanding your limitations. Its akin to having too much pride
- Pride says I can handle everything. Pride says I deserve everything. Pride says I want it all.
- Humility says I can’t handle it all. It says I don’t deserve everything. It says I cant handle it all
- Pride says- I can do it all on my own. Moses wanted to see the fullness of God, but God knew he couldn’t handle it, so he LIMITED his exposure which was a blessing!
- Jeremiah 10:23 – O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
- I don’t know God’s reasoning here besides holiness- But I would guess it cultivated Faith.
- We are limited in our ability to understand everything. We just are. Seeing the fullness of God might have derailed Moses’ faith. Who knows- We do know that God knows and it was Good.
- People do this- “God show me your glory- all of you then I’ll serve you fully” nope
- Where’s the faith in that? Understanding goodness is understanding God’s restrictions.
- Here its seeing God, but it connects to everything God restricts us from. For our benefit.
- You are not entitled to everything and do not deserve everything. If you’ve put your hand in God’s hands- You are submitting to the limitations of what He will allow in your life.
- Like a parent who limits friendships, experiences, clothes, conduct. They don’t understand because they don’t have the full perspective, but the child must TRUST that God knows.
- Recognizing Our limitations Leads to God’s Strength in our lives. He shows himself faithful
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- Psalm 73:26 – My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Our limitations are not a flaw—they are an opportunity for God’s strength to be revealed in our lives. Praise God that he put limits on us in our understanding
- There’s a Godly wisdom in knowing our limits. Understand you cant understand or have all
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- Ecclesiastes 8:17 – Then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
- Wisdom is not about knowing everything but understanding what we do not know and accepting God’s sovereignty over that which he has limited in our understanding.
- Humility Comes from Recognizing God’s limitations on us. Pride is the opposite
- Romans 12:3 – For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
- James 4:14 – Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
- Recognizing our limitations keeps us humble and dependent on God rather than on our own abilities. This is what God wants from us- to depend on HIM and not on US.
- Lean not on our own understanding, acknowledge him in all our ways- the scripture says
- To experience the goodness of God- declare God is good in everything.
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- Its always good when God does it because God is good. Its all he can do and be
- Just like Moses who asked to see God, and saw his goodness instead, you must lean into the goodness of God regardless of the outcomes of your life. No matter what- God is good.
- Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting
- God is Good and Nothing He Does is Ever Bad. Internalize this truth into your spirit.
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- The Bible teaches that God is perfectly good and incapable of doing evil.
- Even when His actions seem difficult to understand, they are always for the ultimate good of His people and His purposes. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
- Ingest and believe that God is good. When you don’t get what you want- he is still Good.
- It is possible to have faith in God in the midst of trials and tribulations
- Let me tell you about Horatio Spafford. He was a very successful business man. Huge real estate portfolio in Chicago. He planned a great trip to Europe with his wife and 4 daughters. Business concerns kept him back home. The ship they were on suffered a tragic wreck at sea.
- He waited to hear word. December 1st 1873 he received a telegram “Saved alone. What shall I do”. All four daughters 12,7, 4 and 18 months lost at sea. He went to go and visit his wife.
- He penned these words- When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
- Only a man of Faith can have this type of insight into the goodness of God. God is still Good
- Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
- Did God kill his children? No! Being at sea did! But it is well! Not what he wanted
- everything God does is good—there is no darkness, injustice, or wrong in Him.
- Do you remember Joseph from the Bible? His brothers sold him into slavery.
- Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned.
- But God used his suffering to elevate him to second-in-command in Egypt, where he saved countless lives during a famine. The circumstances of his life were turned to GOOD
- Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
- What seemed like a tragedy was actually God’s plan to save His people.
- Even in suffering, God’s goodness was at work. What seemed to be tragedy was triumph!
- Horatio Spafford bounced back. They had more children. They were already HUGE supporters and friends of DL Moody. He gave up his riches, moved to Jerusalem as a missionary
- Job was a righteous man who suffered unimaginable loss—his children, wealth, and health. Yet, God had a greater plan. Even through his suffering, Job declared the goodness of God.
- Job 1:21 The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.
- Job never got an explanation for his suffering, but in the end, he saw God’s glory more clearly. God’s purposes are beyond our understanding, but He is always good.
- When we don’t understand- God is Good. When we suffer injustice- God is good. When we are disciplined by God- He is good, When we see evil prosper God is good, When we face hardship God is good. In everything every day in every way, God is good.
- God is still good. Everything He does is perfect, just, and loving. Get this into your spirit
- Psalm 119:68 You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes.
- Ask God to Show you his Goodness
- Church, Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God showed him His goodness instead. That’s how God works. We ask for one thing, but in His perfect wisdom, He gives us what we actually need.
- Some of you have been praying, pleading, asking—and you’re still waiting. You’re wondering, God, where is my answer? And God is saying, I’ve already given you My goodness. I’ve already given you My presence. Trust Me! Stay in the area of trust and belief- don’t give up
- So here’s the challenge: Will you trust the goodness of God, even when He doesn’t answer the way you want? Will you declare, like Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)? Will you stand, like Joseph, who looked at the pain in his life and said, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20)?
- God is good, even when life is not. He is good when you’re on the mountain and when you’re in the valley. He is good when prayers are answered and when silence fills the room. He is good when you see miracles and when all you see are tears. He is good when he gives or he doesn’t.
- So today, I dare you—declare the goodness of God over your life! Not because of what you see, but because of WHO He is. Stand firm in faith. Worship even in the waiting. Trust even when you don’t understand. Don’t give up on God- he hasn’t given up on you.
- And when you ask God to show you His glory, be ready—because He’s going to show you His goodness. And that, my friends, is more than enough!
- If you believe that God is good, no matter what—stand to your feet and lift your voice in praise right now! Declare His goodness! He is worthy!
- Amen!
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