PARTICIPANTS IN MOMENTS OF GLORY

I’ve been wondering, what are great moments of glory in human history?  There are so many.  The Bible is full of amazing moments.  So is millenia of history. So, I wrote a few down. My short list is not absolute nor is it definitive, and beyond question.  It's just what quickly comes to mind.


Here they are, moments of glory when I would love to have been present (and active) as a participant-observer:

• With Moses on the other shore - (helping the last Israelite across the Red Sea).
• With the shepherds and the angelic choir (singing with them "Glory in the Highest") on  the first Christmas night.
• With Mary and Jesus at the empty tomb that first Easter morning.
• With Abraham Lincoln (holding his hat) during his Gettysburg address.
•  With US Marines (planting the flag with them) on Iwo Jima.
• With William Booth - when he first wrote the words “The Salvation Army.”
• With Martin Luther King at the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall (whispering, “Tell them about your dream”).

Those were all wonderful moments of glory in human history.  They were also great moments that legitimately we can say, “Glory to God.”  They are moments when the essence of God’s wisdom, strength, and love for the world were made manifest. Looking back at such moments occasions inspiration and hope in the future.  Each of those glorious moments arose out of times of difficulty, struggle, and seemingly insurmountable challenges.  That’s how God’s glory works.  In moments when doubt and discouragement may prevail, God reaches down to lift us up and give us strength and wisdom we did not know was possible. In these moments we participate in his providence and grace.

The hope we have going forward is that those moments are not reserved for history.  With God there’s always more.  There will be more moments of inevitable struggle and frightful challenge, but glory to God, his promises are sure.  He is steadfast and faithful.  He draws us into those moments as he did Moses, Lincoln, Booth, and MLK. In those moments of God’s faithful intervention, we have the assurance in our spirit that we are more than observing his glorious grace.  We sense that God is letting us participate in his divine nature.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious

promises, so that through them you may

participate in the divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4