Longing for His Glory

Today, I was browsing through an old spiral notebook of mine.

It has notes and thoughts on various topics, and I came across something from last year--almost exactly this time of year.

I love reading things I wrote in the past, because it's always interesting to see how life was back then. Stroll down memory lane with me.

02 June 2009
I've been really obsessed with cloud-watching lately. I always wonder (well, lately anyway) when I get fixated on something, if it might be that God is trying to show me something.

When I look at the clouds that have super bright lining coming from behind, I imagine what God's glory would look like. I wonder if it might be similar. I guess I just sort of associate that kind of beauty and light with God and His glory since it is in the heavens, and so mysterious and intriguing.

I made a comment earlier about how the clouds have just been really amazing lately, and added that maybe it was because of the storms that have been coming and going.

Today, it was overcast when I went to work, and a few hours later a very large storm blew in. It was in Dallas and Fort Worth on the radar, and as I looked out the windows of the hospital, I was thankful to be indoors at that moment. By the time I left work, it was hot and muggy, and the clouds had broke.

I think the most beautiful cloudwork tends to show just after the storm has passed.
As I ponder this idea, I wonder if it's the same in the storms of life.

I wonder if God's glory shines more brilliantly after the storm has passed.

I wonder if in the moments after we withstand a fiery trial, the Lord's glory blankets us in a greater array.
What is glory?

In Strong's Concordance, it actually is defined as weight, but only figuratively, in a good sense, splendor or copiousness--glorious, glory, honor.

For some reason, I stopped writing there. Now I want to dig a little deeper.

Dictionary.com has several different definitions for glory, but the two entries that catch my eye tonight are these:

4. resplendent beauty or magnificence.
5. a state of great splendor, magnificence, or prosperity.
The word prosperity really snagged me.

His glory is the ultimate copiousness of all good things. There is nothing more abundant, prosperous, or fulfilling than His brilliant glory.

His glory is more than just a beauty or magnificence too extravagant for words.

His glory is provision.

His glory is a fulfillment that cannot be duplicated or imitated.

His glory is the substance of my affection, my longing, my searching.

His glory is healing and brings freedom from every single thing that would press me down.

In the midst of one storm or another, I pray to press through, and that I would not stop longing for His glory--to, in fact, desire it even more. I pray that I will take on the weight of His glory in exchange for the weight of any other thing.

Here I am again.

I hear His voice comforting me with words that edify me--that instruct me to look up above the obstacle I see in the path ahead. I can see Him waiting with a big, honey-colored glory blanket on the other side, ready to wrap me up in His magnificence and prosperity.