Earlier this week I worked through a stint of writer’s block.  No matter what I thought I had in my head, the moment I went type it up, it just seemed forced, fake, empty.

After hours of writing, I still had nothing to show.

It was an incredibly humbling – and frustrating – experience.

In the end however, the process of having nothing to show was in fact the gift I had to offer the world that day. 

Sometimes, all you have to show is that you didn’t give up.

Sometimes, all you have to show is that you did your best.

Sometimes, all you have to show is that you tried. 

Sometimes continuing to show up when you’ve currently got nothing to show for your efforts IS the gift you didn’t know you needed.

So, after hours of anxiously writing, I decided enough was enough, submitted the blog for editing and no sooner than I accepted the process as the product, inspiration hit.  I’m not kidding.  I hadn’t even packed my bag to leave the office yet.  Let me explain:

Early in my frenzied search for something to share, I cracked open the Bible and randomly read pages, desperately hoping against hope to be struck by a word or phrase or idea.

In the moment itself, I got nothing but frustration.  The pressure I’d put on myself and the expectations I’d placed on God certainly didn’t help, but the moment I accepted the process as the gift and stepped away, something clicked. 

I had opened to the book of Exodus and read the scene when Moses asked God to show him His glory (Exodus 33).  God kindly told Moses, “No,” informing him that if He fulfilled his request, Moses would die.  Instead, like a parent giving a child what they need rather than what they requested, God hides Moses in the cleft of the mountain and allows Moses to glimpse His glory from behind.  Moses gets a taste of God’s glory and God doesn’t inadvertently kill Moses – everyone wins. 

What Moses requested, he simply could not handle.  Had God granted Moses his request, knowing what God knew, the goodness of God would rightly be in question.  God loves to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11), but God, not man, is who defines the ‘good’.

What struck me, however, was I’d never noticed the timing of Moses’ request. 

Moses’ request takes place in Exodus 33.  It comes right after Exodus 32, which just so happens to be Israel’s fall into idolatry and their worship of the golden calf. 

In Exodus 32, Moses has spent some extended time at the top of God’s mountain, receiving God’s law and spending time in God’s presence.  At the base of the mountain, however, the people of Israel get tired of waiting on God, they have no idea what happened to Moses, and in their impatience, they choose the way of idolatry, fashioning a god of gold with their own hands, for their own purposes. 

God is angry.

Moses is furious.

Brokenness and bloodshed follow.

It’s a horrible situation from which we each can learn a great deal. 

After it’s over, in the very next chapter, we have Moses asking, “God, show me your glory.” 

His request can’t be fulfilled as is, but it got me thinking, “Why now?”  Why ask this question now?  Why ask it here on the heels of the golden calf debacle? 

And then it hit me.

Moses has nothing to show.

He’s got nothing to show for his sacrifice, nothing to show for his courage, nothing to show for his effort and hard work.

With God’s help he’s defeated Pharaoh, led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and beyond the desert.  He’s gotten them safely to the mountain of God, positioned them to receive the Law of God, and after all that, after all…of…that…he’s got nothing to show for everything he’s done.  Instead of gratitude of praise, instead of faithfulness or patience, all Moses has to show for his efforts is an idol worshiping, rebellious, and stubborn people who at one point were willing to trade their freedom for a bowl of hot stew.

In other words, He has nothing – absolutely nothing – to show.  And with nothing to show for all his sacrifice, efforts, and work, Moses needs reminding why he’s doing what he’s doing.

Why did he ever say yes to this mission?

Why did he ever agree to lead these people?

Why did he ever leave behind the life he’d made for himself for this? 

Moses needed to be reminded why he was doing what he was doing and with nothing to show for his efforts, He asked for the only thing that really mattered: He asked God to show him His glory. 

For Moses 

It 

was

always

only

ever 

about

God

God, I’ve got nothing to show for any of this – show me your glory.  Please.  I need to remember why I’m doing this, and I won’t find that in anything out there - only You.

It’s not out there – it never is. 

Even if we have everything to show, even if we had every award, accomplishment, or trophy there is to be had, we have nothing if we don’t have Christ (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

And as much as I wish it wasn’t necessary, sometimes it takes moments of sheer emptiness for us to see that God really is our only Satisfaction.  Sometimes we need to have nothing to show before we find the strength to cry out, “Show me your glory!”

One last thing.  It’s important to remember – God said no to Moses.  He didn’t fulfill Moses’ request to see God’s glory the way he wanted.  But listen to how Moses appears next time he sees the people:

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. ~ Exodus 34:29

Moses may have gone up the mountain empty, feeling like he had nothing to show and wondering why in the world he was doing what he was doing.

But he didn’t come down the mountain that way. 

Only God can tell us “no” and still make us radiant.

All we’ve got to do is ask.  God, I’ve got nothing to show – show me your glory.