What To Do When The Glory Fades

My Utmost For His Highest

 

‘We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him.’ CHAMBERS

 

It is easy to bask in the mountain top moments.  Where our spiritual nature flourishes .. our hearts resonate with the beat of God’s heart.  We come off the mountain and our faces shine like Moses  Exodus 34:29 “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.” Eventually the glory faded for Moses and it does for us as well.

 

In the ‘90s I was involved with a ministry called Promise Keepers, some of you may remember that ministry.  Thousands upon thousands of men attended the conferences.  They would come back renewed, refreshed, ready to apply the truths they had learned or re-learned over the weekend.  Their wives were thrilled .. for about two weeks until the glory faded.  This is not true for all of the men, but for many.  The wives saw their husbands drift back into the same old habits and attitudes.  The application of the truths we discover on the mountain is done in the valley.  And like Chambers said “we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with [Jesus].”

 

These men failed to persist in the valley because they did not pursue their relationship with the Lord.  The glory shining from them was a reflection of their being in His presence.  So it is for you and me.  This principle was true for Moses, true for Peter and it’s true for us.  Our ability to live the Christian life, to respond to life in a way that brings glory to God,  is dependent on our dependence on the Lord and not on our determination to be better Christians.  It is not an act of the will … it is the result of a humble heart and our choosing to follow Jesus in all things.

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)