Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 98. I Want to Live All of Life Coram Deo (show me your Glory, Lord)

Hello human.

I am feeling something I have never felt before. Spiritual dread.  No, I am spiritually sad. No, melancholy.

No. I don’t know what it is exactly. But I do know mywitness99journey is coming to a harbor. It’s a mooring, but I know I will never travel this road this way again. That setting sail will take me somewhere else.

I am grateful, but not quite glad about it. This spiritual road has become familiar.

What I am witnessing about today is very important to me.  We don’t tell each other enough what is important. It strengthens relationships and gives us ways to honor each other.

And so, as a reminder, I left episode 97 with this thought:  that hardwiring this reconciliation question into my day clarifies His presence.

Am I obedient to what is from God to do this thing through His Spirit to bring glory to Him?

It clarifies what matters to Him. Unifying heaven and earth through His Son. And that’s what I care about. Living a simple life from God, through God, to bring His Glory back to Him.

In His Glory, I am reconciled. Every moment has the potential for reconciliation of heaven and earth in my own spiritual journey. Because our destination is to live in God’s ultimate reality, where Heaven and Earth are one. How God’s Son is revealed in my actions, and what my purpose is, contributes to that reconciliation.

Reconciliation happens in His presence.

It has been a long time coming, my entire life and 97 episodes of BUOY to spiritually rest in this life verse.

Romans 11:36 CSV

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I have landed at the feet of His presence. The sum of my life, and all its fractured, but not quite fatal moments are illuminated and given purpose in the presence of His countenance. His face. This scripture, defines the Latin phrase, Coram Deo (pronounced CORE-um DAY-oh), which literally means “before the face of God.”

What I have come to know is that so many humans have come before me, and that I have much reading to do, in God’s Word and from those who have landed in this place.

In our Creator’s divine space, coram Deo.

Theologian and pastor R.J Sproul said,

“To live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude…. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God…. To be aware of the presence of God is also to be acutely aware of His sovereignty.”

My next read is Knowing God, by A.J. Packer. It just came in the mail today. This book as I have noted addresses meditating on His presence, His nature, His majesty.

I know this is an allusive spiritual focus to share but it is, and I am sure of this, where we should all gather together in the most personal of ways. When we worship at a local church, when two or more pray together, when we commit to a spiritual lesson someone shares, it pulls us closer to God, but I am talking about one-on-one. Because the body of Christ, the church, is amazing, but it depends on the relationship we each have with Jesus.

It’s a real thing. I have been thinking about moments within the past year when I recognized that I was living in wholeness, a moment or experience that finds what Sproul called “the unity and coherence of the majesty of God.”

I would describe it as the intersection of love, peace, and gratitude when my love for my Savior deepened because He had drawn me nearer to Him. I have come to recognize this as the divine persuasion of God’s faithfulness to me. One clear example:  Every week when I prepare for BUOY there is a moment when I know I am set on the path for that week’s witness. I am assured by the Spirit of my direction. The rest just follows.  And when I do a final listen before I publish, when I am done, I am all kinds of grateful for God. I am in awe of what He has done, the beauty of His Word and His purpose for me. I say a prayer for those who will listen and feel completely connected to the purpose God laid out for me. Some call it being anointed. All of the earthly mental banter falls away. No striving, no anxiety, just a spiritual contentment that I am with my Father on this.

It’s a soul thing.

So, am I alone in this? No. Truth is, there are so many moments we do not share with each other, when being in God’s presence answered every open question. When being in His presence gave us all we needed.

And I always like to go back to the origin of things. Consider Moses. His relationship with God always blows me away. It humbles me. His conversations, his proximity to a God before He sent His Son to us.

God’s Face

Consider Exodus 33:12-23

Moses and the Glory of the LORD

12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’

13  If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.

22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Knowing God Through His Son, Like Paul

Then, the Apostle Paul. After God sent His Son.

Philippians 3:10-14

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Show Me Your Glory, Lord

Jesus made our relationship with His Father possible because He died for each of us. A personal sacrifice for you. A personal sacrifice for me.

John 14:9

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

It is all about the knowing. About a relationship with our Creator that answers to, that fulfills all the shortcomings of our earthly connections with each other. From the beginning of creation, the Genesis of what we know as part of humanity, we seek and seek and seek—from within our soulful depths—to know Him.

Like Moses, who said “show me your glory, Lord.”

Like Paul, who said “I want to know Christ.”

Because of Jesus, who asks, “Don’t you know me?”

I answer “yes, I know you, Jesus. But being human is never enough. I know you are God’s beloved Son. I know you love me. I know more and more what you do for me every day. But I want to know you more deeply. I want to know your every goodness, your full honor.

So, I ask you, my Savior, like Moses asked your Father:

“Cover my face with your hand, so I can see your goodness pass by.”

James 4:8

Come near to God, and he will come near to you…

Come closer, human. 

Coram Deo.

Join me for Episode 99 of mywitness99journey. Seven days.