Written by: Michelle Brown Reynolds

For most of my life, I have always known about God, but it has only been in the last 12 years that I have been intentionally seeking Him. During this time, there have been many occasions where I thought I understood God and His ways. Yet, through patience, growth, and maturity, God has graciously shown me that I was wrong.

I’ve come to learn that God deals with us according to the measure in which we are able to receive. When we are babies in Christ, there is only so much we can handle. As we develop, He begins to give us more and more, until we reach a place where we can chew on and savor His Word.

Recently, God gave me a word that challenged my understanding of His glory. He presented a new facet for me to chew on. Up to this point, I had only considered one aspect of God’s glory—the wondrous. I thought about and meditated on the things I considered majestic or that put me in a state of awe, such as His creation or those undeniable moments when He moves in unmistakable ways.

But the new facet of His glory that was revealed to me is Kavod. Kavod is the Hebrew word for “glory,” which means “heavy” or “weighty.” I realized that God’s glory is not always roses and rainbows. Sometimes it weighs on our minds and presses on our hearts. Sometimes God’s glory is found in the pain we experience as we pursue Him. His glory is what is worthy and has true value. More often than not, in my own life, I have unknowingly experienced His glory in the things that caused me hurt and pain—the things that weighed on my mind, pressed on my heart, and drove me to seek God.

I challenge both you and myself to not only see the glory of God in terms of wealth, power, and honor, but also in the weight of the armor we must carry in the battles of daily life, in the heaviness of the struggles we face, and in the importance of the values God is pressing upon our hearts.