Sunday, July 21, 2024

THE 'TO' IN 'GLORY TO GLORY'

THE “TO” IN “GLORY TO GLORY”

2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that when we seek the Lord we are being changed from glory to glory. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [mirror] the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” It’s not just the one time, when we get born again, but the many times we are required by God to drop aspects of our old nature and put on the new nature of the Christ within. The glory part on either side, is awesome, but what about the “to” part in between?

 

CHANGE – OUCH! Keeping the status quo may not be exciting, but at least it’s somewhat comfortable—it’s what we’re used to. But when we want to see more of the Lord in our lives, we often need to step out into a learning area – the “to” time. And since God knows our hearts, He sometimes lets us be thrown into a “to” time and we don’t even know it’s happening, or why, or how we got there.

 

In a documentary video I saw, the guide was talking to a tour group in the Negev desert. The guide had the students look across the way at a bare hillside traversed with well-worn sheep paths. The group watched as two shepherd girls led their flock across the landscape. He told the group that in this area, this was called “green pastures!” It looked totally brown and barren in the video, but the guide went on to tell the students that they needed to look a bit closer at the situation with the sheep. That’s what we need to do with the “to” places – look a bit closer to see what the Lord wants to get out of the experience.

 

The guide explained that the sheep paths were just far enough apart so that a sheep on either side could reach into the area between paths to eat. Eat what? It didn’t look like there was anything there. He explained that there was a little moisture in the morning and it only was enough to moisten around the bottom of the rocks. That’s where small tufts of grass would grow. The video panned in and sure enough you could see the damp darkened part at the bottom of the rocks and there popped up 3-inch to 5-inch thin tufts of grass. There was so little to eat, the sheep had to keep moving from one tuft to the next, but as they went, they were rewarded with enough food to satisfy them.  

 

That’s how it is when we traverse the “to” between the glory spots. It is in these times that the Lord does some restoring of our souls. Our spirits are perfect the minute we get born again, but our souls need some help and it’s in the times between the glory levels that the growing pains take place in our souls. A great Bible example of this is seen in the life of Joseph.

 

Joseph was the youngest son and the favorite of his father. He was happy and blessed, but he had one recognizable downfall: his pride. He had a dream and instead of keeping it to himself, he bragged about it to his brothers, who already didn’t like him because their father liked him best.

 

“Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.’

 

“His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said” (Gen. 37:5-8).

 

Joseph was young and excited about his dream. He wanted everyone to know how blessed he was, so he told his brothers and his parents about the prophesy God gave him. But this was a big mistake! The prophesy was for him alone. It was prideful of him and unthoughtful to blatantly blast his family with his private revelation. He was a child and probably meant no harm, but sometimes we as adults also want to blast people with how great and righteous we are as Christians and all the wonderful things we’re doing, and God doing for us. But as we go through the “to” from glory to glory, the Lord has the knack for humbling us, so that we remember that we are not so smart, really, without His guidance!

 

Joseph’s brothers were so jealous and hateful, they at first planned to kill him outright. But the oldest brother talked the others out of it. However, they did decide to throw him in a pit, where he’d die on his own.

 

When we are in the transitional period between the times of glory (in that “to” place) we sometimes feel like we’ve been thrown in a pit too! My friend who was taking his son to school certainly felt that way, but he did the right thing. He continued to pray and look for the blessings.

 

Back to Joseph: After the brothers threw Joseph into the pit to die, they sat down to eat and when they looked up they saw a company of Ishmaelites and decided they could sell Joseph instead, and make some money. But there was another tribe, the Midianites, who came by just then.

 

“Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

 

“And Reuben [the older brother] returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes” (Gen. 37:28-29).

 

And this was just the beginning of Joseph experiencing the “to,” between his glory with his father and the glory he ended up having as Pharaoh’s right-hand man.

 

What do you think Joseph thought about? What emotional trauma did he go through during this time? He found out his brothers hated him enough to want to kill him. They not only stole his prized jacket, a gift from his father, but they didn’t even leave him with any water. He never knew that they were going to come back for him and sell him instead, though the idea they would trade him for money would hardly be much of a consolation in such a situation. Then he was probably tied up by the Midianites, then handed over to the Ishmeelites, who also probably treated him harshly as a foreigner and a prisoner till they could get him to Egypt, where they’d also sell him as merchandise.

 

When Joseph got to Egypt, he had a few glory times, but went through more “to” experiences as well. But we never again see him bragging about himself like he did before. Instead, he gave God the credit. He grew up in that “to” period and learned to humble himself and find out what God intended to teach him in those times.

 

The Lord is with us in all the good times and all the tough times too. In each experience where we are challenged to get rid of some old characteristics like fear, arrogance, bitterness, anger, laziness, or whatever it is, God will lead us to those tufts of sweet grass at the base of the rocks, like He did for the sheep. And we can come through to a higher place of glory in Him, like Joseph did in the land of Egypt.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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