With New Eyes

Image by Gerhard Gellinger, from Pixabay

Puttering around the house today, dealing with the inevitable clutter that piles up, I saw a plaque with a worn, plastic sleeve over it.  It was a memorial plaque, made in honor of my husband's brother, who died in 2015.  For the past 3+ years, it had been sitting in a spot I pass by several times a day.  Initially, with the best of intentions, the sleeve was left in place to protect the plaque.  Now, though, as I looked at it, I saw it with new eyes, and ... it just looked ridiculous to me.
It's best not to "assume" about such, however; so, I asked The Hubs if he minded if we got rid of the plastic sleeve.  He had no objections.  Into the trash the plastic cover went.  Now, there was nothing obscuring the beautiful plaque beneath...

Job had a similar experience.  The episode is revealed in Job 38 and 39.  He had been viewing God a certain way for years.  Repeatedly, in earlier chapters, Job described his God as he believed Him to be.  At the end of his book, though, he saw God "with new eyes".

We can get a lot of information about the character of God by studying His words and actions in the Bible.  But, at the end of the book of Job, God gave a lot of information about Himself at once, in an effort to describe The Indescribable to a mere human.  He did so in the form of questions, peppered with asides to Job like, "Can you do that?"  "Have you ever done that?"

We find God describing himself in Job 38 and 39, because Job had been busy justifying his life before God, telling God how righteous a man he was, and how he really didn't deserve all the calamity that had befallen him.  Essentially, Job was questioning God's actions in his life.  This is how God so aptly put Job's actions and attitudes in Job 40:8 (NIV) - - -

Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

Here are the things God listed (not in question form, though, but in statements)

• He laid the foundation of the Earth.
• He measured the Earth and marked off its dimensions.
• He laid the Earth's cornerstone, while stars sang and angels shouted for joy.
• He brought the seas under control, setting their "doors and bars" in place.
• He gave orders to the morning and showed the dawn its place.
• He knows the location of the "springs" of the sea and walks in the recesses of its deepest parts.
• He knows the location of the gates of death.
• He also knows the way to the abode of light, where light lives, and where darkness resides.
• He binds up the snow and hail in storehouses, held waiting for when He calls on them to fall.
• He knows the point from where lightning is dispersed and where east winds originate.
• He designs the paths for torrents of rain and decides the path of the thunderstorms.
• He fathers the rain and the drops of dew.  He births frost and frozen waters.
• He brought forth the constellations of the heavens and controls them to this day, displaying His dominion over heavens and Earth.
• He counts the clouds and sends lightning bolts on their way.
• He provides food for the lioness, the raven and all living things.
• He knows where the mountain goats give birth and the does bear their fawns.
• He created and easily controls the wild donkey and the wild ox.
• He created the silly ostrich who, although created with little sense (she tends to kill her young), can run faster than horse and rider.
• He created the wild mustang, giving him his strength and spirit of fearlessness.
• He created the hawk and eagle and knows their ways as well.
• As He sees fit, He endows human hearts with wisdom and gives understanding to the mind.

After hearing this list, Job's response was much like Isaiah's when he "saw the Lord, high and lifted up" (Isaiah 6:5 NIV).  Isaiah said, "Woe to me! ... I am ruined!"  In Job 40:4 Job answered the Lord saying, "I am unworthy...how can I reply to you?  I put my hand over my mouth."

Then, God goes for round two.  

In Job 40:9-41 He continues to describe His marvelous character, attributes and deeds.
After that list, Job confessed that he despised himself, and he repented of his actions, in dust and ashes (42:6).  Humility and repentance, in the presence of One Job could not begin to fully comprehend.

Now, remember, Job was "the finest of the fine".  I don't think any of us, even those who love the Lord the most (not me, by the way), can truly see him for who He is.  The apostle Paul confessed that he saw "through a glass darkly"(1 Corinthians 13:12).  Ever look through a glass window pane into the abject darkness?  That window is clear as glass, but it is of no use.....  Darkness is still all you can see.  None of us can fully appreciate our God, because we can't approach a full understanding of His character.

Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we do as Job did - - construct a God of our own making.  It may be we go beyond what God reveals in Scripture to do that.  Other times, we may do so out of an ignorance of what the Scriptures say.  I take comfort in this verse, though:

                       Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

James 4:8a

This is a call to shut out the clamoring voices of the world and to spend time in prayer and Bible study with the Lover of our Souls, to "draw near".  

...that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving...

Ezra 9:8

All By Myself

The past couple of days lots of us have been rather isolated from the community-at-large, because hazardous weather conditions have kept us in our homes.  For some, that has been blissful family time.  For others, well....the Christian rapper Ludacris posted a vid on his Instagram of his kids going a little stir crazy.  Got to love the one in the diaper and furry boots.  Ludacris is begging the area school system to open back up immediately! 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeEqSBajQkd/

As we say in the South, "bless his heart".

Though some of us enjoy a hermit-like existence more than others, we were created for fellowship with others who are like-minded.  In the Christian context, that is fellowship with other believers in Jesus Christ as Savior as Lord.  However, this is not the primary fellowship for which we were created.

The first, primary, most crucial fellowship is with our Creator and Savior.

Proverbs 18:1 ESV

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment.

He created us for this fellowship with Him, not isolation from Him.

This morning, I got up and began my morning routine, the 3rd step of which is to take a tiny little pill that I've had to take daily, before breakfast, for the past 27 years.  Usually, that goes predictably.  It's a habit, right?  Not this morning.  I don't know what happened, other than I put the water in my mouth.  Somehow, though, it got up into my nose, which caused extensive coughing, hacking, gagging, spitting.  I found myself staring at the little pink pill in the sink.  (No, I was not the red pill from The Matrix movie, all you smart alecks out there.....)

Here's the thing:  humans were not created to inhale water, which is apparently what happened to me this morning, even though I had done this same routine some 18,000 times successfully.  When we act, intentionally or not, against how God created us, we do not flourish.

Sometimes, the results of our actions are immediate, like with my pill escapade this morning.  Other times, it takes more time to become evident, like a slow-growing tumor.

Those who don't know Jesus Christ as Savior are isolated from God in the most extreme way.  They are literally dead, spiritually.  Sometimes, they have deliberately chosen this path.  Other times, they are deceived into thinking they are worshipping the Triune God - - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, when in reality they are merely worshipping a false god of their own choosing.  And then, there are those who have not ever heard the gospel message.

We who belong to Jesus, who claim Him as our Lord, though, are not immune to the perils of today's proverb either.  Even though God's Holy Spirit actually lives within us, we often deliberately make choices to isolate ourselves from Him.  Why?  Because, as the proverb says, we want to seek our own desires.

Then, there are those of us who isolate ourselves with the Lord and become "so heavenly minded we are no earthly good".  There is no virtue in that either.

If you learned to ride a bicycle or to snow ski or some other physical skill that provides enjoyment, what sense does it make to afterwards never do it again?  "Ok, now I've learned to ride the bike.  I think I'll put it away and never ride again.  Mark that off the list."  That makes no sense!  Those are the words of someone without sound judgment.

The Christian life is designed to be lived both vertically (our communion with God) and horizontally (our communion with others).  It is designed to be practiced, not hoarded.  The bounty of spiritual gifts Christians are given when the Holy Spirit enters them are meant to be used, both for the glory of God and for the advancement of Jesus Christ's kingdom.

I was talking with my son's sweet girlfriend a few days ago.  She had gone on her first snow-skiing trip (she's 19) and had learned to ski that first day she was on the slopes.  But, it was not without falls, aches and pains.  This beautiful young lady is in great physical shape.  She is majoring in dance in college.  Still, she fell several times in learning to ski.  Finally, she mastered it and was able to spend the second day on the slopes skiing successfully with my older son.

Oh that the Christian life were so unilateral!  A few falls, and we'd "have it".  But, no.  

And, because the resplendent walk is full of detours, potholes, skinned knees, sore muscles, even broken bones at times ... some of us respond by isolating ourselves from our God or from each other.

Has that happened to you?  Are you "there" now?  

If God has called you to a brief period of isolation from others, for a specific purpose .... and He sometimes does this .... well and good.  Those periods of isolation are never meant to be permanent though.  If you are truly seeking Him during such a time, He will equip you to return to the community of faith.  Because that is how He made us.

So about that pill....I picked that little, pink sucker up and, the second time around, swallowed it down.  Here are a few verses to encourage you to draw nearer to God today, no matter how far away you are, or for whatever reason.

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.

Psalm 145:18

To all who call on Him in truth.  Hmmmm....

Draw near to God, and he will Draw near to you. 

James 4:8a (ESV)

James, who wrote these words, was the half-brother of Jesus (Mary was his mother too).  For part of Jesus' earthly ministry, he thought Jesus was a lunatic (Mark 3:21).  After Jesus' resurrection though, James became a believer, went on to be the head of the Jerusalem church and died a martyr's death.  That's some cred, I'd say.  Here's the rest of that verse:

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:8b

He did not mince any words, did he?  

And, finally this morning, the beautiful words of Isaiah:

"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat.  Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. "Incline your ear and come to Me Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

Isaiah 55:1-3 (ESV)