When God Reveals Something, How Do We Respond?

I've been reading a book called Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown about  the spiritual journey.   We're all on a journey.     If you're a Christian, then you should be walking with God and moving forward, or at least not going backwards - though that is sometimes very hard to do, right?    Our spiritual life is always changing - growing and bearing fruit, or not growing and gradually dying, even if not obvious at first.  

But, maybe you've been hit hard by some stuff - death, loss, illness, incapacity, rejection, betrayal, toxic relationships, parenting, abuse - the list goes on.    When we're hit hard, we're tempted to retreat within and we often get lost and confused and can't seem to feel or hear God anywhere, in anything we read or hear.  Even interacting with His people can leave us feeling worse, not better.    So, how do we move forward, or just plain old get back up again?  

In Sensible Shoes, the characters are challenged, during a prayer retreat, to connect with God in a deeper, more honest way.    They are all broken and stagnant and stuck and withdrawn in some way, for different reasons, and not sure how to move forward.   One of the key tools presented to them for connecting better and deeper with God is to put themselves in a Bible story or situation or verse and to see what jumps out at them, what annoys them, what hits a nerve, what makes them cry or laugh or get defensive or want to run away.   Those are the places to start again if we're bogged, the places to sit and wait on God, to find out why we're reacting, to be really honest with ourselves and Him, and to then receive from Him.  

We can get so bogged down and negative and depressed and alone in our journey.   But God.   But God is waiting - waiting to speak with us, to give to us, to bless us, to fill us, to heal us, to restore us and so much more.   But, we have to be open to Him.   We have to seek Him and to find Him on that journey, not because He's hiding, but because we are so used to doing it alone and finding our own solutions and trying to clean up our own mess.   

In re-reading through parts of the book, I was inspired to make a word picture, if you like, of what our spiritual journey can be like.    The leader of the retreat takes her participants through a labyrinth, an old-world custom of winding backwards and forwards to a central point, pausing to contemplate and listen to God, to be filled by Him in the centre, and gradually moving on and receiving from Him on the way out.     Partly inspired by that, and partly by a play on words, I wanted to share this word picture with you and hope you can find here a treasure or two to help you on your journey.  

So, as you begin at the starting point, whether you're deliberately waiting on God or whether He interrupts your everyday life in some way, my question is this - 'When God reveals something, how do we respond?'   Let's start there, at the arrow.  

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.   Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.  When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart .....
Jer 29:11-13

Five Miracles and Five Privileges

Once upon a time, there were three little girls and their sad little Mummy.   Not sad because there were three of them, nor because they were girls, but because they were growing out of being little and there were no more coming behind them.    I always felt we were supposed to have five children, and yet all that was happening was one miscarriage after another, usually in the early stages.   

After yet another miscarriage, this time at ten weeks, just after we moved to the farm, I finally went to the doctor and she suggested some tests.    She ran the tests and called me in to make an appointment.  Out in the waiting room, my ever-growing little girls played in the toy section, and I waited to hear my results.  She started with a strange question.

'Those three little girls out there - they are yours, aren't they?'  

'Yes, they are - you were my doctor for one of them, remember.'

'Well, it's just that these genetic and other tests show that it's physically and genetically impossible for you to stay pregnant long enough to have a healthy baby.   You need to go home and enjoy the ones you do have, though it's beyond me how that happened.  And don't start with the God-stuff - you know where I stand on that!'   

So I went home, sad and grateful.   Sad that there would be no more, and grateful that God had performed three miracles that science couldn't account for.

After a time of grieving any future possibilities, God showed me very clearly that I needed to change my attitude and find contentment in who my girls were at their various ages and stages.  

Contentment is a hard thing to choose when you're pretty sure the status quo isn't going to change.  It's one thing to be content for the time being, with the hope of future possibilities.    But it's quite another thing to choose contentment when this is all there is. 

But I did choose contentment and I found a new appreciation for the girls, and their ages and stages, and a new appreciation for each of them for who they were, and not just part of my mothering dream.    I realised that while I was pining for another baby and then another, I wasn't loving well the ones I  had already been given.   So, I chose contentment and it brought me a great deal of freedom from many things. 

But, I pretty much gave up on my dream of five children.

But, many years later, we were surprised with another miracle and another privilege.   By this time, my older girls were 16, 13 and 11 and they were pretty convinced I was either pregnant or had a brain tumour!!   They were relieved to find out I was 14 weeks pregnant.    We welcomed Raelee Rose the following May, and a few years later, we welcomed Abigail Eloise, 21 years, almost to the day, after her oldest sister was born. 

I had my five, the number I always thought I'd have, with doctors still sprouting their negativity and their disbelief and their worst-case scenarios, 'You need to have an abortion, you're too old, you need to get over yourself and get a life, this will happen and that will happen, ....... blah, blah, blah.' 

Well, here I am, the mother of five miracles and five privileges.     I am still trying to get a current photo of all five girls in the one place at the one time.    One day!   This one was taken when Abi was just a few days old. 

And these are our two youngest miracles now.  

And on the hard days of parenting and sleep-deprivation, I need to remember my story of five - and the privilege that I have been given.   For many of us, conception and pregnancy and birth are not a given - it's not that easy.  

But for all of us, regardless of how 'easy' it is, our children are a privilege and we do well to remember it, on the hard days and the good days.   

Children are not just the fulfilment of our dream - they are a gift from God and a heritage - a huge privilege. 

Psalm 127:3  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Linking up with other writers at Five Minute Friday, a writing party on a given prompt.  Today's prompt word is 'five'.  

How Loyal Are You?

I took this picture of the moon last week. 

It's pretty impressive - the moon, that is.   It really lit up the  darkness for a few nights and made it hard to sleep.  The dogs barked all night because they could see things running around.   The sheep were noisier than usual - perhaps there were more predators out and about on those nights.

It lit up a place that is normally dark - being 40km from town lights, it gets pretty dark here at night when the lights are out.

You're probably wondering what on earth the moon has to due with being loyal, right?  Well, the moon reminds me a bit of undue loyalty.    It looks pretty impressive and it is - a huge great ball in the sky, but it doesn't have any light of its own - it is merely reflecting the sun's light back to us on earth.  

Now look at this picture of the moon taken just an hour or so earlier.

It doesn't look quite so bright, does it?    It isn't quite so impressive in the light of the sun shining.   And the sun was shining behind me, in the west, as it was slowly setting.
 
And you know it reminds me of the something that happened this week, where a person was being incredibly loyal to her hubby, unduly loyal, at the cost of integrity, and her sons' respect, and that of others too.    Her hubby is her source of wisdom and 'light' and the reference point for her value and her values.   He is the light in her dark place.    But she doesn't realise just how poor his light is in comparison to the Son, the Son who values her regardless of how she performs or looks, regardless of how much money they have or how 'well-bred' they are or the car they drive or their other status symbols.    I felt sorry for her, even though in being loyal to him she disappointed us and refrained from doing what was right.   And it was obvious that she was refraining and being restrained, though not physically - her loyalty was restraining her.   

We're not meant to be loyal to someone on this earth above God and His ways. 

Jesus had some things to say about being loyal to Him above all else, and all others.

It reminds me, again, of how much liberty there really is in having God in His rightful place in our lives.   When the light of His Word, His truth, His very presence shines in our lives, then we know that we must be loyal to Him first for anything and everything else to  make sense.   I have seen and felt the damage, firsthand, when we are, I am, loyal to a person or a theology or group or doctrine above being loyal to Him.   It's like living in the light of the moon, all the time, and not realising there even is a sun. 

He made both the sun and the moon and He is greater than both.  I don't want loyalty to anyone or anything else to turn my day into night, not any more.   

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of HIM.   Psalm 33:8

Linking up at Five Minute Friday, a writing party where we get to write for five minutes on a prompt word.  Today's prompt is 'loyal'.  

AT REST IN HIS HAPPY PLACE

Oh, to be a dog, eh?  This is our gorgeous dog, Kaelen.  He is a pure-bred kelpie, bought and trained from a pup by our second-oldest daughter Anna.  He has a pedigree.   He was bred for a purpose.  He was brought here for a purpose.  His purpose here is to help us move sheep around and move them through the yards.  But, most of the time, he doesn't do that, because there isn't that much sheep work to do here.  So, his happiest moments are when he's flying through the air, chasing a tennis ball.   His eyes glow and his body is agile and he is alive!!   He spends hours sitting, sometimes staring at me through the kitchen window, begging me with his eyes to come and play.  And when I do, he's so happy.  He loves long runs around the farm, following after a motorbike or vehicle, but his happy place is chasing that ball.  

What is your happy place?   Is it just when you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were signed up to whatever role you play in life?   Or is it when you are enjoying yourself and enjoying the company of those who love you and whom you love?  

I look at my mother who, sadly, has spent her whole life trying to make others happy, and at this late stage in her life, she feels like a massive failure because they are often unhappy, but the failure isn't hers.  It's theirs.   It was never her purpose to make them happy, not in God's eyes.  Her purpose, the reason He thought of her, designed her, created her, was to enjoy Him and enjoy herself.    She doesn't know that.   She thinks she's here on this earth to make people happy and to constantly miss out and let go and forego to keep them that way.  But the people she's trying to make happy have choices to make, and the choices they make mean they will never be happy.   Because for them to be happy means to exalt themselves and to have their own way, all the time.    That is NOT happy.   They are not happy and the people they 'love' are not happy.

I wonder what makes God happy?   And He's not someone who needs to have it all His own way to be happy.  He is happy when we are living a full life, a life overflowing with the goodness He first placed in this world.   He is happy when we make good choices, right choices, holy choices, and when we choose happy for ourselves, a happy not based on our circumstances, but grounded in our hearts.   A happy that starts in our hearts, founded on knowing His love and being grateful to Him and confident in Him, in the midst of any circumstance.   A happy that starts and stays in fearing Him above all others, wanting to bring Him happy (pleasure), not appeasing someone else.

I've just recently read some of John Bevere's thoughts on fearing the Lord, and I found this verse:  

 
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied  Proverbs 19:23

Are we satisfied and happy in Him?   Are we at rest, happy that we bring Him pleasure, make Him happy above all else, above everyone else?   Have we found the ultimate happy that He offers - to delight in Him as He delights in us. 

Linking up with Kate Motaung at Five Minute Friday, where the prompt word for today is 'happy'.

<a href="http://katemotaung.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://katemotaung.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Five-Minute-Friday-4.jpg" width="200" height="200" /></a>

Content To Be Hidden?

Linking up at Five Minute Friday, where we write for 5 minutes on a given prompt.   Today's prompt is 'hidden'. 

The word 'hidden' took me back, instantly, to a poem I wrote a few years ago for a struggling friend. 
Since that time, she very graciously sent it back to me when I was struggling with similar issues. 

So, I'll share it with you and perhaps it will help you too. 


THE ROSE

I saw in a garden, in a quiet, little place
A rose red as scarlet, full of beauty and grace
Why is it there?   For whom does it grow?
Does anyone see it?  Will anyone ever know?

Why has the gardener planted it there?
Does anyone notice, will anyone care?
Is it enough for the gardener to know?
To enjoy its beauty, and see that it grows?

It seemed such a waste, for its beauty not to be seen
By the rest of the world, like some hidden-away queen
There in a garden, a beautiful gem,
Growing lovely and strong, but only for Him.

But then I saw Him, and saw the joy on His face,
As His rose grew there, in that secret place.
I saw His delight and the love in His eyes,
as He pruned and adored His beloved prize.

This prize was a gift, redeemed by His Son,
Who'd hung on that cross, till the victory was won.
To His Father, He gave His life just for this
To buy back this gem, and present it to Him.

Had it been bruised, was it limp and forlorn?
How much had He pruned it, to bring it back to its form?
How much love had He spent to bring it around,
To the way that it looked, to be the gem that I'd found?

There in the garden, in that quiet, secret place,
Under His gaze, receiving His grace,
For whom, Christ in His passion, paid the ultimate price
It got me to wondering, it made me think twice.

Am I content to be, is it enough for me
To be a rose that only You will see?
There's so much I could do for You, in some other place
Is it enough for me to be here, under Your gaze?

Will I let You prune me, to bring me around
Allow You to form me, like the gem that I found?
If nobody ever sees, and nobody ever knows,
am I content, just to be, Your hidden, scarlet rose?

Photo courtesy of our dear friend, Suzy, who loves roses and other flowers, and for whom roses have been a symbol of God's faithfulness in her life. 

A FRESH SEASON, A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

When we left here, eleven weeks ago, things were pretty dry, on many levels.  

We'd just come through a very hot, dry summer and things were not looking good here.   My hubby was just starting to hand-feed stock as we left.    We were in serious need of rain. 

But, it was not just outside.   Things inside were strained and difficult and dry too.  

But, the green I see outside now reminds me that there is always hope, always potential for new growth, for things to change and improve and to actually flourish.   God's desire is for us to do more than just survive.  

Sometimes, being away can give you a fresh perspective.   Coming back into our largish home, I can appreciate how much room there is here, and how many freedoms we enjoy here. 

The girls are appreciating all their toys and books in a new way.   Three year old Abi has wanted to pull everything out these first couple of days and play with absolutely everything all at once.    It seems to be a rather large and continual exercise in damage control, especially as my hubby had the house so tidy before our arrival.  

But, there's more freshness here than just a tidy house, a roast dinner to come home to, re-discovering our own space and toys.    There's a sense that God is up to something.  

The very first morning here, I stumbled across this passage in something I read:  
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendour of our God  Isa 35:1-2

I've noticed a few things since coming home, which I need to write down, so they don't blur into the background of mundanity again.  Things that need to change, things to be thankful for, things that need to be priorities, other things that need to be put in a different place and given a different measure of importance.   I hope to be writing about some of those. 

One thing that keeps jumping out though, is the need to be intentional, to get past that pull of gravity I mentioned in a previous article.

If we are stuck where things aren't right, we need to be intentional in getting past what keeps us there and what keeps taking us back there. 

So, this first, fresh week, I'm hoping that what stands out can be noted down and become inspiration for getting past that pull of gravity in this place.  

Perhaps in your place, the pull is different, the dryness is different, though its source is the same - sinfulness and decay, at the very core of everything. 

But praise God for grace - the power to get beyond the normal, the pull of that sinfulness and decay, the tiredness of same old, same old, and to get that fresh perspective and fresh inspiration. 

Praise God for the grace that is the force outside of ourselves to be more, aim higher, desire more, thirst for better.  The grace that not only saves us from ourselves, but forgives and redeems and renews and empowers.   

In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.  Eph 1:7,8

How Big Can I Grow?

Checking in at Five Minute Friday, where we write for five minutes on a given prompt, and this week we're writing about GROW.  

We went outside late yesterday to pick up all the large dried seed pods off the ground and put them in a bag for burning.  They make great fire starters.   Little Abi, who is 3, was keen to collect as many seeds out of them as possible, before relinquishing the pods to the fire pile.   She put all the seeds very carefully into her container.  

Looking at that tiny seed in her hand, it's hard to believe it could grow into a massive tree. 

The seed was so small to compared to even her small hand, and she was so tiny compared to that massive tree.  

How much did that seed grow and what happened along the way?  How many seasons has that tree seen?   How much was it sheltered in its early years?  How many storms has it endured?

How do we grow? 

We need the right conditions to grow so big and strong, yes, but I think we need to cooperate with Him. 

I guess seeds and trees don't get a lot of say about where they grow and how. 

But we do.  It seems we have a great deal to say about where we grow and how.  It's not Him that stops us from growing, because that's His desire for us.  He is a creative, life-giving, nurturing, growing God and He wants that for us.  

What stops us from growing?   What stunts our growth?    I guess circumstances, pain, abuse, rejection, lack of opportunities, illness - all these can stunt us, but not if we keep submitting those to Him.  I wonder if what really stunts our growth is not what happens to us, but what we hold onto - bitterness, unforgiveness, lies, self-protection, fear, pain, scars, idols, strongholds - I wonder if these are the things that stunt our growth, not what happens to us. 

I see this massive tree sheltering several nests and think about what He wants for us - to be a strong tree, rooted in Him, to stand tall and be a place of shelter and an example of His glory. 

It seems that in this verse from 2 Peter, we are commanded to grow, charged with growth like it is OUR responsibility to grow.  He is the Gardener, but we must cooperate.  

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.   2 Pet 3:18

The Relentless Love of God

by Kath

Recently we went to the coast for a week's holiday and on our last night there, we went for a  rather long walk along the edge of the breakwall, just on dusk.  

I am always fascinated by the water at the edge of these dangerous precipices, especially when it's a long way down, over  large jagged rocks.  It doesn't feel terribly safe to me, but I'm still fascinated.  And just to add to the unsafe feeling, I was walking along, hanging onto the hand of a small person who insisted on dancing and bouncing around, rather than just walking sedately along, and the path we were walking, or bouncing, on, wasn't particularly wide, with water on both sides. 

On this last long walk, what really grabbed my attention was the constant movement of the water.    It didn't stop.  It just kept lapping, lapping, lapping up against the rocks.    It was even more constant than my six year old's chatter, and that was something to marvel at.   And it was quiet and yet powerful all at once.   Of course, the waves were quite small, being inside a large bay area and not out in the open ocean.  But they were still constant.    In fact, they never stopped, just kept coming, quietly, powerfully, constantly - relentless.

I gotta say, the ocean scares me a bit.  I enjoy the sea, don't mind having a paddle in shallow water, but I'm quite wary of it, having been dumped a few times and having been caught in a rip a number of years ago.   The power of waves and rips to pull you where you don't want to go, to pull you down and turn you over and over makes you realise how powerless you really are.  

What drives those waves?   Of course, science tells us it's the pull of the moon on our planet and I guess that makes sense.    But the Bible says that God is the Lord of the sea.

Job 38:8-11

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

Prov 8:29 When He set for the sea its boundary, so that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth..........

During our time at the coast, we swam at  a beach just a little further down the coastline, which was still quite sheltered by comparison to other beaches, where the waves were a bit larger, and the pull of the water stronger.   Our littlest person got dumped by one of those waves, and realised, in real terms, the power of the water.  She had had great plans of swimming a long way out, alone, and being the master of her little situation, with hands on hips, stomping of feet and very definite speech.  She was going to do what she wanted in that water.   After her dumping, about two  minutes after she stepped into the water, we didn't have to tell her any more that the sea can be a dangerous place.    She felt it and it frightened her and humbled her, for a while.    She didn't go back in at the 'big' beach.  

When I looked at that little bit of the sea that last evening, lapping up against the breakwall, constantly and quietly, but powerfully, I realised that it was just a very, very small part of the very large ocean that graces our planet.    And the waves that grace our planet are much more powerful and potentially damaging in many other places.   

And they are relentless - they never stop coming, the water never stops lapping or crashing or pulling against the shore. 

And yet God is more powerful than our ocean, and I was reminded that it's not just His power, but His love and goodness, that are relentless.   

More than the sounds of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty. Ps 93:4

God is mighty in His power, but He is mighty in His love.   His love is relentless, like the ocean, lapping, lapping, lapping against the breakwalls of our lives, and sometimes crashing down upon them.    God's love is constant - constantly coming, constantly in motion, constantly there, often quiet, but sometimes powerfully crashing against the walls of our lives and breaking them down.   

We could imagine that His love is like the ocean and that the water is His goodness - full of life, but full of power and constantly in motion, not passive, not stale, and not necessarily 'safe' at times.   It reminds me of the famous line from Narnia, 'Is he safe?   No, but he is good.'  

Sometimes, God's power breaks things in our lives and breaks down our resistance and safety nets, only to be replaced by something much stronger and eternal and unbreakable.   It would be a frightening thing if God were not good, because then His power would be destructive without a purpose, without goodness, just raw power.   

In Psalm 23, it says,

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.

In the original text, that word for follow is 'radaph', which doesn't mean to follow along placidly, but rather to hunt down.   So the text should read, 'Surely Your goodness and love will hunt me down all the days of my life.'    We don't think of hunted and love as belonging in the same sentence, and yet here they do.  In this passage, one of the most well-known passages of Scripture, it speaks of being hunted down by love and goodness - a bit like the waves of the ocean relentlessly crashing against the shore. 

God's love and goodness are relentless, powerful, quiet, moving, alive, constant, just like the ocean, only the ocean is a copy, not the real thing, a physical  manifestation of the even more real, tangible and powerful goodness of God.   And love and goodness are who He is, not what He does.   

Even after we were safely inside our unit for the night, those waves wouldn't have stopped.  Even now as I write, hundreds of kilometres away, and I can no longer see them or hear them, they haven't stopped.  The sea doesn't stop, just because I can't see it or hear it or feel it.   It's good to get to the ocean, if you can't live near it, to be reminded of the power of it.   But even when you can't see it or hear it or feel it, it doesn't stop.    And it's a very tangible reminder that even when we can't see or hear or feel or recognise the love and goodness of God, it isn't any less real or tangible or constant or powerful.  It's still there. 

Psalm 136:1-2  Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.    Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.…

Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting. And His faithfulness to all generations.

Sometimes the water isn't quiet and sometimes God's love doesn't feel good, but only powerful.   But it is always good, even when that powerful love and goodness knocks us over, humbles us, finds us sitting on the shore, growling, frustrated at our smallness, wondering what happened to all our bravado and plans.    I wonder how often we sit on the shore of His love like a frustrated three year old, growling at His power and sovereignty and our own powerlessness, but not prepared to go back into the water?     It feels easier to just get busy again and ignore that great big ocean and stay 'safe'.

I wonder does sometimes the love of God  make us feel like that?  Sometimes, in His love, God does and allows things that turn us over and over, knock us off our feet, expose our  insecurities, have us in deep water, have us longing for some solid ground under our feet and when we find our feet again, does it make us feel very small and insignificant?   It shouldn't.   Because even though we are small and we are powerless, compared to that great big ocean of power and love and goodness, we are by no means insignificant and our struggles are not insignificant to Him who created the ocean that knocked us off our feet.  

This song is a powerful reminder that His love is not in pieces, not based on His being in a good mood, not conditional, not passive, not stingy, but present, generous, wild, unreserved, unrestrained, uncontained, hunting us down and pursuing us - relentless. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0FW--zidYA

Linking up at Titus 2 Tuesdays

Are our faces . . . Just Like Jesus?

by Kath

 

These are some thoughts from Max Lucado, in the sixth chapter of his book, Just Like Jesus.....

 

Our face is the most public part of our bodies, covered less than any other area. It is also the most recognizable part of our bodies. We don't fill a school annual with photos of people's feet but rather with photos of faces. God desires to take our faces, this exposed and memorable part of our bodies, and use them to reflect His goodness. Paul writes: "Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord's glory, and we are being changed to be like Him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18 NCV). God invites us to see His face so He can change ours. He uses our uncovered faces to display His glory. The transformation isn't easy. The sculptor of Mount Rushmore faced a lesser challenge than does God. But our Lord is up to the task. He loves to change the faces of His children. By His fingers, wrinkles of worry are rubbed away. Shadows of shame and doubt become portraits of grace and trust. He relaxes clenched jaws and smoothes furrowed brows. His touch can remove the bags of exhaustion from beneath the eyes and turn tears of despair into tears of peace.

How? Through worship.

We'd expect something more complicated, more demanding. A forty-day fast or the memorization of Leviticus perhaps. No. God's plan is simpler. He changes our faces through worship.

Exactly what is worship? I like King David's definition. "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3 NASB). Worship is the act of magnifying God. Enlarging our vision of Him. Stepping into the cockpit to see where He sits and observe how He works. Of course, His size doesn't change, but our perception of Him does. As we draw nearer, He seems larger. Isn't that what we need? A big view of God? Don't we have big problems, big worries, big questions? Of course we do. Hence we need a big view of God.

Worship offers that. How can we sing, "Holy, holy, holy" and not have our vision expanded? Or what about the lines from "It is Well With My Soul"? Can we sing those words and not have our countenance illuminated?

A vibrant, shining face is the mark of one who has stood in God's presence.....

 

 

"Image courtesy of samandale/FreeDigitalPhotos.net"

Glimpsing Glory - What It's Really All About

by Kath

This blog is called Glimpsing Glory, but what does that mean, exactly? Well, God's glory can be seen in us, His creation, and many other aspects of His creation, often only dimly seen, which is why we've called it Glimpsing Glory.

But what is God's glory? I understand it to mean this, but there is so much more to it: His goodness, His character, His power, His greatness, His purposes, His might - all those things that make Him glorious and worth praising.

I'm still trying to figure it out, so I'll leave you with these thoughts - the first three from God Himself, and the others from various Bible teachers, with links so that you can read some more.

Psalm 96:2 Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day. 3 Declare His glory among the nations, His marvellous deeds among all peoples.

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being

Habakkuk 2:14 for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

　

So God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.

http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-gods-glory

All of God's moral and spiritual qualities make him glorious and worthy to be praised.

http://www.michaelgrahamministries.org/other/glory.html

God’s glory is God’s weightiness in wonderful qualities such as might, beauty, goodness, justice, and honour. When it comes to these characteristics and so many others, God has them in superabundance.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/what-gods-glory#.Uu4mn7DxvIU

God is the only being in all of existence who can be said to possess inherent glory. We don’t give it to Him; it is His by virtue of who He is. If no one ever gave God any praise, He would still be the glorious God that He is, because He was glorious before any beings were created to worship Him… His glory is His being – simply the sum of what He is, regardless of what we do or do not do in recognition of it. John Macarthur

 

http://www.gracetabernacle.org/GraceLife/quotes/God-Glory-Defined.htm

We must constantly remind ourselves that we are speaking of a glory that is ultimately beyond created comparison. "The glory of God" is the way you designate the infinite beauty and the infinite greatness of the Person who was there before anything else was there. In other words, it is the beauty and the greatness that exists without origin, without comparison, without analogy, without being judged or assessed by any external criterion. It is the all-defining absolute original of greatness and beauty. All created greatness and beauty comes from it, and points to it, but does not comprehensively or adequately reproduce it.

 

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/rebuilding-some-basics-of-bethlehem-the-centrality-of-the-glory-of-god