Torch, Fall-Winter 1998 optimized

side of the desert. God brought that period of his life to end by appearing to him in a burning bush. He then moved into 40 years of life and ministry which made him a key player in the greatest series of events between creation and the incarnation. Moses had seen God's presence in the burning bush and the guiding cloud and the flaming pillar. He had seen God's power in the plagues and the parted sea. He had seen God's provision in the form of manna from heaven and water from the rock. After all of that, Moses said to God, "Show me your glory." It seems to me that he had seen quite a lot of it. We are in a society that is power hungry. It has an insatiable appetite for more and more power. Moses had an insatiable appetite, too, but it wasn't to see himself elevated-it was to see God elevated. Moses' desire was not to see himself empowered, but to see himself as an instrument in the hand of an all– powerful God. Some of you have recognized these verses that we've read as just following the incident of the golden calf and just preceding the incident of God passing by Moses after He placed him in a cleft of the rock. God covered him by His hand, and Moses was witness to the aftermath. He came away being able to say, "I have been in the presence of God in a manner like no other man ever has been." God demonstrated Himself powerful in several ways. He demonstrated Himself powerful to forgive. The passage quoted earlier involves an appeal from Moses to God to assure him that everything was all right between the nation of Israel and God. He spoke to God about grace. He said to him in verse 12, "Thou hast said, 'I know thee by name."' That type of knowledge is the result of having been chosen from among others. It is the result of having been placed in a special, peculiar place of honor. Moses said to God, "You · say that I occupy this special place in your own sight, you said you know me: show me that you know me. Therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight." You have found grace in God's sight, haven't you? I did when I was 14. I pleaded to God on the basis that I was lost and that the only one that could offer me any hope of salvation was Jesus Christ because of what He had finished on the cross of Calvary. You know Him that way, don't you? Then you know that He is powerful to forgive. I sat with a vice mayor of Vonina a few years ago, and she said to me, "I have been defending your people, I have been championing their presence here. I wonder if you could do something for me." I had no way of knowing what she was about to ask for, so I had to diplomatically respond that if it were in my power, I would be happy to do whatever she asked. She said, "You know our community is plagued with alcoholism. Many of our families have both parents debilitated by alcoholism. We have extracted some 40 children in the past six weeks from families where they are in danger because of their parents' addiction to alcohol. I have noticed that when people are associated with your church here in Vonina, it is as if they are reborn." She continued, "We have watched, and it is as though people are reborn when they are associated with your church. I wonder if when we have families that are having this kind of struggle, if we could refer them to your people and hope that they could be some help to them?" "I have something else," she continued. "Our young people are distracted and confused. They hardly know what to make of this new freedom that Torch 11