"...that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." - Psalm 27:4
My God is so faithful to me. When my eyes have so frequently and easily wandered away from Him and looked to anything else, he has been faithful again and again to catch my gaze and show me the weight of his beauty and worth. This freedom that comes when we focus whole-heartedly on Christ is something that I hope everyone could experience.
Currently I can think about tons of secondary, peripheral demands or distractions that are contending for my attention. I'm sure you can all think of some, too. The ones in my life are pretty all-inclusive, ranging from, "What kind of car should we buy, or should we even buy one?" to "How in the world am I ever going to take the gospel to the ends of the earth?" to "I hope I can find some time to workout and get the flab off my arms before the summer." The list of demands goes on: serving at church, making time for friends and family and my husband, evangelism, finding time to just relax, working out more than once every 3 months, working 40 hours a week, cooking dinner and cleaning, having my quiet time every day, praying enough, keeping all of God's commands... demands, demands, demands. And can you really ever do enough?
The truth is that Lord only wants us to be concerned, enamored, focused, on ONE thing... Himself! (He, by the way, takes care of all the other things. Prov 3:5-6, Matt 6:33) It is so simple, but I think if we have never really experienced the freedom of gazing on the beauty of the Lord, it's hard to see how we'd really be able to do it ALL the time. But Psalm 145 says, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." His greatness is unsearchable, his ways are complex, and he is more beautiful than diamonds. I think if we knew how awesome God really is, we'd have a really hard time looking at anything else. Instead we would be seeking to see more of Him and to know the intricate, inner-parts of his character... he is NEVER boring.
So the Lord has given me this desire... to be enamored with him alone. I want to see him and only him so that it is like I am constantly looking at a picture where HE is in focus and all the cares of the world and desires of the eyes are faded in the distant background. I want the Lord to be the center of all my thoughts... that every other part of my life may be in proper orbit around him, just as the planets are in proper orbit around the sun. "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will surely do it." 1 Thess 5:17
My heart is also for the church. We are 50 feet wide in "service" and 2 inches deep in the knowledge of God. I literally hope that the Lord will envelop his church ( you and me) with the overwhelming reality of who he is... and not that we'd just know, but that we would live in that joyful reality.
Finally, I love how the Lord is so good and that HE always gives us grace RIGHT NOW to do what he wants us to do. He is seeking worshipers, and he has given us the grace to worship him right now. He is a "very present help..." He always lives to intercede for us. I am guilty of sometimes looking to a point in the future to fully worship him, or for compartmentalizing my "Jesus time." Now is the time to do it. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow, and what's past is past. Right now is when you can most glorify the Lord. I more than anyone need to learn to worship in the present, no matter the circumstance.
I love the lyrics to the song we sang at church tonight...
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." Heb 12:1-3
Love,
Leah
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