When I was expecting my oldest daughter, I wanted to paint the ceiling of the nursery like the sky – bright blue with puffy white clouds. I found this amazing glow-in-the-dark paint to paint stars on the sky ceiling. During the day and with the nursery light on, you could only see the clouds and the sky. But at night, when you turned the lights off, the stars I had painted on the ceiling began to glow in the darkness. It was magical. Every day without fail, the painted stars would recharge themselves by exposure to the light in the room.
In Exodus, we read an account of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai after a second 40-day conversation with God. I won’t go into all the back story details, although I encourage you to read it because it is a good one! Exodus 34:29 tells us:
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face was shining [with a unique radiance] because he had been speaking with God. “
Moses was literally glowing because he had been talking with God! In the following verses 33-35, it says that Moses began to put a veil over his face after he would tell the people what God had said to him. Moses would take the veil off when he was before the Lord talking with Him in the Tent of Meeting and keep it off until he would then speak God’s words to the people. They could clearly see that Moses had been with God and the “glow” seems to be evidence of God’s presence and authority.
Could it be that Moses’ face was recharged when he went before the Lord each time?
Wouldn’t that be so amazing if we glowed after we had spent time conversing with God and continued to glow until we shared what He had revealed to us? Talk about a great reality show concept!
Recognizing God in Us
How DO people recognize God in us? How can they know that we have spent time with Him? Here are a few things we can learn from Moses in this account:
In Exodus 33:11 it says that “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.” Moses had an intimate relationship with God that only comes with quality and quantity of time spent together.
And then in Exodus 13, Moses asks God to “let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor.” Moses desired to know God more, to understand Him more clearly— he pursued God.
Moses also desired the presence of God. After God tells him He will send an angel ahead of them into the promised land but that He, Himself would not travel among them because of their stubbornness and rebelliousness, Moses pleads with God in Exodus 33:15-16,
“If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”
And God agrees! Moses then asks for God to show him His glorious presence in verse 18. And what follows is Moses actually seeing God! Moses knew that the presence of God in our lives is invaluable, incomparable and non-negotiable.
Shining for God
Once you are building this kind of relationship with the Lord, then there are many ways you can “shine” for Him. Here are a few:
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 AMP)
“ I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.” (John 13:34-35 AMP)
“Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.” (Isaiah 58:10 NLT)
“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” (Philippians 2:14-15 NLT)
So just from these passages, others can recognize that we are disciples of Jesus, and that we have a relationship with him:
- by our good deeds
- by our moral excellence
- by the way we love one another
- by feeding the hungry
- by helping those in trouble
- by not complaining and arguing
- by living clean, innocent lives
There are so many things we can do to “shine”. The more and more time we spend with Jesus, the more and more like Jesus we will become. So recharge yourselves by spending time with God, desiring to know Him more and pursuing Him on a regular basis, and then shine, shine, SHINE as you reflect His glory!
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT)
Written by Kim Hughes
