Oh Lord God, who makes all things new, may the renewal I seek begin with me.
I have seen your grace and your mercy. You have preserved me and those I love. In a dark and contentious world, I have seen your light dimly and known your peace momentarily. I go to church and see your work. I sit down to eat and know your bounty. I go to work and you renew my strength.
But I ask for more. I ask for a fresh vision of your glory.
When I was young, I learned your law, but never really knew your holiness. Then I experienced your grace, but never fully comprehended your mercy. But as I grow older, I want to see your glory. I want to see you clearly. I want to tremble before you. I want to see everything illuminated by the light of your presence and the truth of your Word.
As you showed yourself to Moses on Sinai, speak to me face to face. Pass by me and proclaim your name, the Lord, merciful and gracious. Do not blind me. But awe me. And humble me.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and I’m still at the beginning. Only when I see how great you are can I see how small I am. Even mighty angels fall down in your presence, praising you and singing hallelujah. Let me see you as they see you, so I will involuntarily and constantly do the same.
Show your glory to my children, this year. And to my grandchildren. Reveal your glory to my church family and to my colleagues. Show your glory to our bosses and politicians. Reveal your glory to kings and presidents. May we all be humbled by a clear vision of who you are.
As Job said when you came to him in a whirlwind, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” So much I do not know. So much I have not seen. So much wonder I have not noticed.
But by this year’s end, may I confess, like Job, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5–6, ESV)
In this new year, may I see you. As wars rage and systems fail, may this year be like the year that King Uzziah died when Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.”
Then:
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And Isaiah said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1–5, ESV)
Lord, I want to see you high and lifted up.
So fill the earth with your glory. And through the smoke, let me see, let all of us see, the Lord of hosts.
the daysman 