LET THY GLORY APPEAR

This “prayer of Moses, the man of God” is the oldest psalm of ail. Moses’ great personal desire was to be shown the glory of God, Exod 33. 18. God placed him in the cleft of the rock, and allowed His glory to pass by, 33. 22. This glory lingered on in his face, although he was unaware of it, 34. 29, and his appearance so alarmed the Israelites that he had to wear a veil until his face returned to its normal condition, 34. 30-35; compare this with the unfading glory in the unveiled face of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4. 6.

Another of Moses’ great desires was that those coming after him would also have a sight of God’s glory, v. 16. His own knowledge of God was as the eternal God and Creator, vv. 2-4, to whom time offers no limitation; for example, He is able to compress a thousand years to a day or even a few hours, v. 4; see also 2 Peter 3. 8. Man’s time is limited, his “threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years”, v. 10 R.V., are “soon gone” and “we bring our years to an end as a tale that is told”, v. 9 R.V., “so teach us to number our days, that we may get us an heart of wisdom”, v. 12 R.V. The spiritual man thus has a true appreciation of his own life, but also of God’s glory as seen by His works, v. 16. Such men can request that the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us”.

The Israelites in Moses’ day passed their years in wandering in the desert, because of their unbelief. Moses, however, knew that this would not last for ever, but that His glory would eventually be seen; he asked, “how long?”, v. 11.

The Christian does not measure his or her days by the fact that death is coming, but that the Lord is coming, 1 Thess. 1. 10; 5. 23; 2 Thess. 2. 1. The Lord Jesus told many parables about those who would not be ready for His coming: not necessarily because they did not believe He would come, but that they had not appreciated the nearness of His coming. The spiritual man is ready for, and welcomes the coming of the Lord, Rev. 22. 20.

For unbelievers, the nearness of eternity is an unwelcome thought. The gospel awakens them to this, and thus “teaches them to number their days”. The devil is ever ready to convince them otherwise, and to fill their lives with passing pleasures.