Psalm 89:37

This is another quick unedited post, but perhaps even how I write these posts, are being contoured by the Holy Spirit cleansing me and shaping me more to the image of Christ, by not being consumed by perfect writing, and instead just proclaim the goodness and greatness of God, while trusting Him to do the rest.  Last night reading God’s word was so refreshing and rejuvenating, and it had been several months since I was this jazzed from reading God’s word.  I wanted to call someone and just rejoice in the many answered prayers of putting the spice and flavor back into my reading time.  This was more than just time spent expanding knowledge, this was time when the Creator of all communed with me through His word, and allow me to see His beauty by taking scales off my eyes.

It’s times like these that I could have taken a bull horn and gotten on my balcony and declared the greatness and glory of God.  Not sure how my neighbors would feel about that, most would probably just turn their hearing aids off, but regardless it was the well needed rejuvenating of my soul I so desperately sought.  And serves as a good Ebenezer for the future when my forgetful-prone flesh is tempted to think, something other than God is satisfying.

If you have not looked up the verse yet, it is a little unassuming but to me it was the capstone of an evening drinking from Gods “river of delight” and “fountain of life” [Psalm 36:8-9].  When I have moments like these in which God graciously gifts to me, I see more clearly that He delights in my satisfaction in Him.  As well as I see how infinitely amazing He is and how puny the slogans of pleasure from the world appear.  It’s like staying all summer at the Ritz Carlton, only to get home and see ads about specials that Motel 6 is offering.  Your mind does not even entertain the ad, because you just had 8 weeks of the plush life with spa service and steel drums playing softly in the background, as a cabana girl serves you peach and raspberry infused water, under the wafting shadows of a Palm tree, all while you have a view of the Pacific.  If that was to descriptive for an imagination, its because it wasn’t, that was my life in California for several summers, sadly I was not walking with the Lord during that time.  God’s wisdom is so incredible that even my foolishness years later can be used to glorify Him.

My point is that God satisfies and fulfills the soul, like no other.  And the moments when you are on the receiving end of this satisfaction, the cares and allures of this world grow strangely dim.  Helen Lemmel beautifully penned this sentiment in 1922 after being inspired by Lillias Trotter’s  writings in the book, The Heavenly Visions.  Trotter a brilliant artist, who loved Christ but was entangled in the struggle between her God given talents as an artist and her God given desire for missions, after 2 years of struggle in prayer she put aside her love of art to fix her eyes fully on Jesus.  For 38 years she served as a missionary to muslims in Algeria, which was a far cry from her affluent upbringing to a wealthy stockbroker in London.

The excerpt from Trotter’s book that inspired Lemmel to pen the sweet hymn in 1922, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

“Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen harmless worlds at once — art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the good hiding the best.” It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Dare to have it out with God, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His Glory. Turn your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”

Last night my eyes were on Jesus, and the allure of the world grew dim.  And this was a glorious gift from God.  It started the weekend prior, with several sleepless nights in a row, I ended up just sitting in the dark in my living room and it was there that God hung on His black canvas of the night, the most peaceful and awe inspiring picture of the moon.  This sight so captivating that I quickly removed all that was hindering a crystal clear view. Even that right there parallels the truth of how beautiful God is that sin should not only not appeal to us like it once did, but that it should be an annoyance to us as we seek God more earnestly, the writer of Hebrews expresses our desire and urgency to get sin out of the way so that we can run (or in my case view) more freely [Heb 12:1-2]. So opening up my sliding screen door wide open, I had an amazing opportunity to sit in awe of the beauty and goodness of God.

Just a sliver of the moon, on a crystal clear night,  just hanging there in the middle of the canvas, being framed by my balcony.  A silhouette of a tree, and few birds (or bats) flying by every so often, and best of all not a peep, complete and utter silence outside.  I cannot do justice describing the scene, but the moon looked fake because of the size, shape, and clarity, but I know even Hollywierd with all their special effects could not reproduce this scene.  I sat there for 30-40 min as the moon began to drop lower in the sky, all the while pondering the greatness of God.  He is so vast, and yet He cares so much to share a moment like that with me.  I was being reminded of the blog I wrote of God revealing Himself to us in His Creation, and my pondering the parallels of the moon as a witness of the sun, and us as witnesses of the Son.  Both shining light from another source that was much more powerful and beautiful, both incapable of shining light on our own, and both made to bear witness to the SON/sun.

My thoughts ended there that weekend.  Last night God gave me Psalm 89:37 as an Ebenezer to remember the faithfulness of GOD, when I am being tried and tested, to remember that His promises are forever:

Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.”

As faithful as the witness of the moon that there is a sun on the opposite side of the earth, God’s covenant with David is.  That out of David’s lineage the Messiah came, and out of the Messiah’s lineage (remember the new birth, that happens when we are placed into Christ) his offspring will endure forever!  The promise of the perseverance of the saints, was conceived before Christ was slain for our sins, but lest we boast it should rightly be named the preservation of the saints, by our faithful Creator, Who swore this covenant by His holiness which is immovable.