April 10, 2010

The Bible says that the Lord knew Moses face to face!  Deut. 34:10.  I always thought of it the other way around (i.e., Moses knew God face to face), but I even checked out Exodus 33:11: So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

It seems that Jesus expects this kind of open-faced knowing from us as well. What do you think? I saw it here in this Scripture:
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’  then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’  But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’   Luke 13:23-27

What does it take for the Lord to know us?  He certainly put an emphasis on that here.  And it wasn't just about being in the same vicinity and having the same nationality.  Obviously, the Lord knows everything, and He of course know us inside and out, as He made us and is omniscient and omnipresent.  So what does it take for the Lord to know us?  I want to know!  I want to make it through that narrow gate!

I try to stick with the Scripture reading of the day (there's so much in them!), but when I picked up my tea to go warm it up again, the Lord reminded me of these verses:  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

We might start out so afraid of God, like Moses (Exodus 3:6), that we won't even show our face.  We're not going to get to know God like that!  But the Lord's saying, "Where are you?  Open up!  Why are you hiding?"  Like He did with Adam and Eve.  If we allow fear, shame and the need to belong (thank you, Eldon, for that great teaching!) to keep us from showing our face to God, we'll remain foolish, because how will we overcome those issues if we will not receive instruction?  If the Lord's saying "I do not know you," it's because we're too proud to let Him in.  If we're going to go through His gate, He's going to first have to come in through ours.

Jesus said to those of His nation who would not believe in Him:  "See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” Luke 13: 35 

I'll never forget the day I realized, with a huge shock, that God saw everything about me! I had spent my life deperately trying to hide from Him, in spite of the fact I'd called myself a Christian for most of it.  I was in the middle of a rather wretched fight with my husband, and it was going nowhere.  I felt so hopeless.  Suddenly, the Lord revealed where I was at.  I remember falling onto the floor and weeping uncontrollably when I realized that God saw through my defenses.  I decided then that I had to stop hiding from the Lord behind the masks and walls I had built around myself to protect me from hurt, real or imagined.

Even though I had gotten revelation, it took years before I was willing to totally lay down the things that I used to shield myself from others and from God.  I was so expert at creating defenses that most of them were hidden even from myself.  I'm still not sure they're all gone, but at least now I am willing to be shown, either by the Lord or a person that He might speak through.  The more I reveal myself to Him, the more He reveals Himself to me. 

Have you ever seen a child, who, by covering her eyes, thinks she is hiding from her parent?  I have!  A child quickly figures it out, but it is funny when they first do it.  We are like that with the Lord, and yet how slowly we come to the reality that we must not try to hide from Him.  He can see us anyway.  And the great truth is, that He loves us, so much more, than we love our own little children.

It is wisdom to uncover the face of our heart when we go to the written Word, for in it we will find Christ, if we will only open our eyes and let Him see us.

January 7, 2010

I'm on the topic of "seeing" again! Does that surprise you, since I'm an artist? Sometimes I forget that God sees, really sees, and sees me. I used to be afraid to be "open" with God until I realized He sees it all anyway. And still loves me. I want intimacy with Him (I always think "into-me-see"), so I want to go purposely to the Well of the Living One who sees me (Genesis 16:14).

When I got to the Gospel reading, I was a little worried at "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them" Matthew 6:1. I brought this up with the Lord, concerning doing this group especially, and my fund raiser for Need Him Ministries. Checking my heart best as I could, I felt my motivations were right, to lead others towards God and to shine my light. Will others judge my actions wrongly? Maybe, but God SEES my heart.

Then in Matthew 6:22  I saw something different in one of my favorite verses about the eye being healthy. If I trust my own eyes, my natural vision, I'm going to be full of darkness. But if I give up my own sight and let God be my "eye", I will be full of light-- because He REALLY sees, knows, discerns-- there's no darkness in Him.

January 6, 2010

Genesis 13: 14-15 Receiving the promises requires vision: "raise your eyes now. . .all the land that you see I will give to you". I'm going to have to seek the Lord for a vision of what it is He wants to give me, or I won't be able to receive much. In Genesis 15:1, the Lord came to Abram in a vision. I need that! I'm getting a picture of God being my shield. This is a good beginning, as I tend to get intimidated. I'll be braver to move forward as I trust in the shield of faith: it's the LORD himself!!!