In thinking along these lines, I remembered the old Dick Baker song I used to sing, "Longing for Jesus". If you could ask God for anything at all, what would it be? There would probably be a lot of different answers to that question.
In Exodus 33:7-23 we find Moses meeting with God and he is given the opportunity to ask God for anything he might want. Interestingly, Moses didn't ask for anything material. It seemed Moses' desire ran much deeper, something on a higher plane, something beyond even himself, something spiritual and eternal. We find in this passage Moses had two basic requests: "Show me Your way," and "Show me Your glory." In v. 13, "Now therefore, if I have found favor in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in Your sight." And then in v. 18, "Moses said, 'Please show me your glory'." This tells us a lot about the heart of Moses. Jesus said, "for the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart" (Matt.12:34). These two requests poured out of Moses' heart because this passion and desire was stored up in his heart.
We also see in those passages the "why" of Moses' requesting those two things. "That I may know You" and "that I may find grace or favor in Your sight." That "know" carries the meaning of, "progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with You" and "perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly that I may find favor in Your sight." Can you imagine just for a minute how worship would be in our churches if every worship leader, that is worship leading choirs, worship teams, etc., and every worshipper had that same kind of longing and passionate desire? Can you even begin to imagine what our worship would be like when the people of God gathered? May we come to such a longing and desire as this. And may we then see God make Himself known among us! mjm
