Seeing God…
God's beauty and presence are evident in all creation, and when we truly seek Him, we cannot help but see Him everywhere—whether in the grandeur of nature, the details of life, or even in hardships. The absence of His favor and power should prompt us to cry out for Him, just as Moses refused to move forward without God's Presence, showing that true intimacy is not about blessings but about knowing and being with Him. Once we have encountered the glory of God, nothing else will ever satisfy in comparison, yet this pursuit is an endless journey—one where we continually seek more of Him while realizing He has been seeking us all along.
Can’t Not See God
Trying to not see God
Beholding His beauty isn’t limited to sitting at His feet in the quiet of a prayer closet, crying out to see His face. While it certainly happens there, it’s even more about the posture of our hearts—a readiness to see God’s beauty shining through every aspect of life. In truth, we can’t not see Him. Everything is made through Him, by Him, and exists in Him. Every surface of creation reflects Him, and even the light that allows us to see is sourced in Him. Our very capacity to perceive is a gift from Him, and whatever we behold ultimately points back to Him. We can only see because of Him and whatever we see is Him.
Even the challenging or unpleasant reveals God’s presence. While some are quick to see the devil’s hand in many things, the reality is that God’s glory fills the earth, not the devil’s.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” Ps 19:1-2
So what does the chill of a night breeze whisper about God? What can we learn from things that seem less appealing, like the sharp edge of winter or the sting of loss?
Seeking God is about recognizing His glory and beauty in the people around us, in creation, and even in our circumstances. It’s a continual practice of looking for Him and finding Him everywhere.
The wonder and awe we were designed to carry remain within us, waiting to be kindled. If we’re no longer captivated by His beauty, if we’ve lost the spark of awe, it’s a sign that our passion and longing for Him may have grown cold. Let us return, then, to the heart of wonder—where His beauty is revealed in all things, great and small.
Where is the Lord?
If in our looking for God, we are not seeing Him and He appears to be hiding, He addresses this in Jeremiah 2:8
The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols.
Their absence of seeking was directly connected to their level of knowing and inversely to their rebellion and subsequent idolatry. My prayer is that if you are not seeing the Lord, then you would cry out to see Him. Stand in faith and do not move until He reveals Himself to you. He expects you to do that. This passage goes on to say that His Presence and Power was removed. If they did not recognize His Presence was gone, they should have recognized His Power or Favor and Blessing was gone. It was His power and miracles that had brought them out of Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness for many decades.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
If we are not seeing the favor, blessing, power, guidance, we are admonished for not seeking it. This should be the obvious sign that God is not with us. It was like not looking for God when His power wasn’t being displayed was a far greater sin than the rebellion and idolatry. The Lord essentially was saying, “It’s bad enough they worship idols and don’t listen to Me, but they didn’t even notice that I had withdrawn and was not with them, they didn’t even miss Me?” #GodIsALover
I will not go without You...
Moses was so captivated by Yahweh that when God asked him to lead the people from Egypt to the Promised Land, he declared he would not go unless God’s manifest Presence accompanied him.
Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
The depth of this statement is revealed when we examine the Hebrew word for Presence—Paneka (פניך)—and the word for Face, which is Panay (פני), sometimes rendered as Panim (פנים). These words share the same root, and in modern Hebrew, this scripture translates to “face.” Moses sought Yahweh’s Face, not His Hand.
Moses could have lived a life of royalty, free from hardship, but how could he enjoy such a life when his people were enslaved? He went into the desert to seek God on behalf of his people. Yet his journey led him to a place in God’s heart where, when the Lord finally appeared with the answer to his prayers, Moses no longer wanted the blessing without the Lord Himself. He would not accept the blessings apart from God. Moses desired Yahweh above all else. It was as if he were saying, “You can keep the blessings—give me You, Jesus.”
He counted it all as “rubbish,” echoing the words of Paul:
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)
After God responded favorably to Moses and assured him that His presence would go with him, Moses, understanding the grace and nature of God, boldly asked for more—he asked to see God’s glory. In His goodness, the Lord hid Moses in the cleft of a rock as He passed by, shielding him from the overwhelming brilliance of His glory.
Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.”
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Psalms 33:18-19
Moses asked for His Glory (Kabowd – כבד ) and God showed him His Goodness (tuwb – טוב) and proclaimed His Name Yahweh (YHWH - יהוה ). There is a deep glory in knowing the Name of the Lord, Yahweh. The personal eternal name of ‘The One who is and will be… . The word tuwb, used for goodness, means generous prosperity, bestows blessings, benevolence and goodness. Because these two were together and the Name Yahweh normally accompanies another, God is revealing himself as Yahweh Tuwb, the Lord who is ultimate goodness and generously kind, and will be full of grace and merciful compassion.
God explained that His glory was so intense that seeing it fully would have been fatal. Imagine a goodness, grace and compassion so intense it could kill you. Even though Moses experienced two profound revelations—God’s presence and His glory—Yahweh made it clear that no one could see His Face and live.
A pattern seems to emerge in God’s encounters with Moses. First, God declares that He will not personally accompany the Israelites. Moses, however, intercedes, reasoning and pleading with God, who ultimately relents and agrees to go with them. Encouraged by this divine favor, Moses then asks for more: to see God’s glory. God grants this request as well but draws a boundary—Moses can behold His glory but not His face.
Later in Scripture, we find instances where others see God’s face, and we are even invited to seek His Face (Psalm 24:7). This reveals a divine blueprint: no matter how much we encounter God, there is always more to experience. It is a divine romantic pursuit—we chase after God, yet He is simultaneously pursuing us. While we can never fully know Him, we are on an increasingly knowing Him journey.
Once you have been in the Presence of God and glimpsed Yahweh in His Glory, there is an undoing. There really is nothing else for us and nowhere else to go. Nothing else will ever satisfy your heart again. No elegant company, tasty morsel, new sight or sound. It’s all comparatively worthless. Yet at the same time, it is all enriched ‘in Him’. Everything in creation is made glorious in the light of the Creator. It can’t ever be enjoyed on its own again, but through God it all made joyous. The Creator’s countenance beautifies the creation.
So, Moses is now ready, and God goes with them….