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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: seeing God

  • What Do You See? Opening our spiritual eyes.

    What Do You See? Opening our spiritual eyes.

    stylized Adam and Eve hiding in the garden

    We aren’t very far into the Bible when things go terribly wrong. You know the story.

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:1-8 esv

    Now, prior to this, both Adam and Eve walked in the garden in a close personal relationship. They knew the Lord as intimately and personally as it is possible for a person to know Him. They understood His love, compassion and mercy.

    What changed? The obvious answer is they sinned. Yet, what moved them from joy to fear?

    With sin-filled eyes, we cannot see God as He truly is. They now saw God through distorted lenses and created a harsh God of their own imaginings. It’s what we do.

    Some see God as a Monty Python-like foot ready to stomp on us for any sin. Others see Him as a cosmic genie there to grant our every wish and desire. For some people, he’s a doddering old man who either cannot see our sins or, if he does, is unable or unwilling to do anything about them.

    There are those who pretend that He doesn’t exist. The great civilizations of the past imagined Him as a pantheon of very flawed human-like capricious gods.

    The truth is that the God revealed to us in the Bible is none of those things. He is benevolent, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He loves us so much that Jesus came and died so that we could be restored into a right relationship with Him and be adopted into His family.

    He is too beautiful and wonderful for us to understand with our sin-filled minds. Even as believers whose sins have been atoned for do not yet see him clearly, but the day will come when we will. He will open our spiritual eyes to see the truth.

    For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:32

    I can hardly wait. What about you?

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    On a similar theme

    Do you see things through the eyes of faith?
  • First Day – Remembrances and anticipation

    First Day – Remembrances and anticipation

    blurry image of my first day of school c1963

    This is far from the clearest photo in the world, but here I am, ready for my first day of school. Yes, they had schools and even cameras back then. My mother took it out of the apartment building window.

    I’m looking pretty dapper in my little uniform and carrying my lunch bag. My companion was a slightly older friend who lived in the same building and attended the same school, but I don’t recall her name. I remember her nickname, but it wasn’t flattering.

    The school was on a military base in Germany, where my father was posted during his career in the Canadian Armed Forces. I have a few school memories but don’t remember the first day. I suspect that I was terrified.

    I might have been nervous about going to school for the first time, but the truth is I love learning. Other than a few years in high school, I have loved school. I have been upgrading my education since leaving high school.

    I love the first day of school. You get all new supplies, new classes, and meet new people. You also get exciting new syllabi (or syllabuses, if you prefer) to read. Yes, I read them because they tell you much about what to expect and are quite helpful.

    Even when I am not in school, I love to learn. I suppose I am a bit of a geek. When the instructor asked a question, I was often the annoying student who jumped up and down and said, “I know, I know.” I didn’t do that to show off. I wanted to share what I had learned, and my high school friends may never have seen that side of me.

    Every day is an opportunity to learn with the Lord. Our first day is the day of our conversion. We are born again and given a fresh start. We are babies in the faith.

    From there, every day is the next first day in our journey with the Lord, which will last forever—a new day to experience His mercy and learn about Him.

    The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

    A new day to walk afresh with Him.

    Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2 ESV

    I confess that I look forward to the most incredible first day of them all, after the day I became a Christian. On that day, I shall see my Lord and Savior face to face for the first time.

    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 ESV

    They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:4 ESV

    There are many books out there where people claim to have been to heaven and returned. Yet none I know of talks about meeting the Lord; it is always family and friends.

    Of course, I look forward to seeing my family and friends. Yet, first and foremost, I long to see the one who gave His life that I might live.

    He knew me before anything existed outside Himself. He loved me when I was an unlovable rebel and mocked Him. He is an even bigger fan than my mom, and that’s hard to beat.

    On my first day in glory, I will see His face. What a moment that will be.

    I look forward to seeing you there, but after I meet Him.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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