The Greatest Miracle of All

  Psalm 63:2
"I have seen you in the sanctuary
   and beheld your power and your glory."


  So it's taken me a little longer to write this post, mainly because I kept going over it in my mind. When I first read this verse, I immediately began thinking about miracles, because that's how we as humans see His power and glory right?  So then I started thinking, "Well maybe if I'm earnestly seeking God like I've been trying to then I'll see those miracles and be able to see God's power and glory."  But that way of thinking didn't sit right with me.  And then it finally clicked with me this morning at church.  Our pastor was saying that many people ask, "Well where are the miracles?" - much like my thinking.  Then he said, "But don't you get it?  We live in a miraculous age!"  I could practically hear the light bulb ding in my head.  In the old testament and God's covenant to Abraham, God's love was only for the Israelites.  But then, as my pastor said this morning, "God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles and they will listen!"  (Acts 28:28).  So is it a miracle that God loves us?  Um, yes!!!!


  There are so many other things to show us God's power and glory.  We live in an age and a nation where we can still talk about our faith and our God.  Sure, we might get funny looks or shunned, but we have the opportunity.  And yes, I know our free speech and the basic moral values that our country was founded on are dwindling, but they're still there, so why don't we make the most of it?


  The "meat of the matter" is that the miracle, power, and glory of God that everyone is so desperately searching for has already happened and is right in front of our faces.  God loves you and me and everyone else for who are, not what we can do for Him.  And even more miraculous, He wants a REAL RELATIONSHIP with us.  Now I'm not trying to downgrade other miracles, or say that they don't happen.  I've seen car wrecks that no one should have survived, but those involved are walking around now telling people about Jesus. And I was there when my cousin was told her unborn baby was dead, but when she went back the next day for another appointment, her baby was fine and is now a healthy little boy.  You can try to explain those things and other miracles away with science, but bottom line, they are miracles, and they're all around us.  I just think it's sad that so many people (including myself until recently) are looking for some big miracle to know that God is real and He loves them.  The miracle has already happened!  A perfectly-lived life, gruesome crucifixion, a rolled-away stone, and the conquering of the grave are all evidence of the biggest miracle of all - God loves us for just being us!!!

Jesus Loved by Living

  Okay, so I'm diverging from my Psam 63 today, but I heard a song on the radio the other morning on my way to work that has stuck with me ever since.  I was listening to K Love radio and the song Glorious Day by Casting Crowns came on.  The chorus goes something like this:

Living He loved me,

Dying He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away.

Rising He justified freely forever

One day He's coming - Oh Glorious Day

Oh Glorious Day!!

  Now this chorus is basically the "salvation story" or whatever term you might want to use.  But the first four words of the chorus struck me to the core.  In church and while sharing the Gospel, we usually focus on Jesus dying on the cross and all the agony and shame that went with that death.  And then we focus on the glorifying resurrection and how Jesus conquered death, the grave, hell, and the devil in one fell swoop.  And there's nothing wrong with either one of these things - they're absolutely amazing!  But do we ever think of how much it meant for Christ, the Son of the Almighty Living God, to actually live with us?

  Just imagine, if you can, having everything you could ever want, not having to work for what you have, or even have to care for yourself.  All you have to do is just be.  Now magnify that times infinity and you still won't fully comprehend what it meant for Christ to leave Glory to come to this planet.  Jesus Christ sat on a throne of Glory, at the right hand of the one and only almighty, all powerful, all-knowing God of the universe and was essentially one with Him.  And he left that to be born in a manger in a barn surrounded by farm animals.  Think about it - that was probably not the best-smelling place and who knows if that manger was even clean?  Jesus left streets paved of pure gold to walk on dusty, nasty, dirty, muddy streets in what we now call the Middle East.  And seeing as how things weren't that sanitary back in those days, who knows what all was in those streets - if you get my drift.

  And probably the most mind-blowing to me, in heaven, Jesus was surrounded by angels and saints who did nothing all day and night for eternity but sing praises to him and worship him.  Then, he voluntarily left that to walk among sinners and even made friends with them.  Most of the time for us, we don't know someone's lying to us until after the fact.  But could you imagine looking someone in the eye and knowing for a fact they are lying to you, and not just that, but you also know their thoughts, their past and future, and why they're saying and doing what they are.  You can walk down the street and feel the pain, agony, and worry of all those around you.

  Why in the world would anyone in their right mind leave perfection to come to this corrupted place?  Many of the things going on in our world today was going on then too.  There were corrupted politicians, lying government officials, murders, stealing, hypocritical religious leaders, and legalistic fanatics and so much more.  Yet, Jesus (and God) loved us so much that they came to endure - and conquer - this world once and for all even when they knew all these bad things would be awaiting Christ when He came.  

  Even after thinking all this through, I still can't quite wrap my mind around this.  I have a hard enough time this summer having to be somewhere I don't want to be.  I'm in a strange town, strange house, and no friends where my internship placement is this year and it has not made me very happy at all.  But I'm getting paid for being down here, so that obviously makes things a lot better.  But my Jesus loved me so much that He left the only perfect place in the universe and beyond to experience everything we do, only in a more powerful way than we could ever imagine.  So I now have a simple answer to the many-times-asked question, "How do I know God loves me?"  He lived.

Unconditional Seeking

 Earnestly seeking God in every situation is a lot harder than it sounds.  Sure, it's easy to look for Him when things are going good because you can see His blessings all around you.  And I'll even say it's easy to seek HIm when things are going wrong because you're looking for a way out, or in some cases, even trying to figure out what He's going to do with the situation you're currently in.  But it's the time in between when it's the hardest time to seek Him.  For me, it's like I constantly feel in limbo or I'm getting caught up in the world around me - that's when seeking is the hardest.  It's easy for me to forget to seek God when life is mediocre.  Probably because when things are good, I'm thanking HIm and looking for the next blessing.  And when things are bad, I'm looking for glimpses of God's promise, or just looking for a way out of the pit period.  But when life is just so-so, it almost feels like there is no reason to earnestly seek God - which is absolutely crazy but that's the lie Satan and this world feed us.


  The last part of Psalm 63:1 says, "my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."  This world is a dry, weary, and desolate place where spiritual nurturing is concerned.  Jesus says in John that anyone who drinks the water He gives to them will not thirst and it will become "a spring of water welling up to eternal life".  If we are of this world, we are going to thirst to death.  


  A couple of years ago, I thought God had completely given up on me.  I had become totally immersed in what this world could offer me so I stopped seeking God and His plan for my life. I figured He was done with me and a "screw-up" like me could never be used by God.  To begin with, I was content with just believing in God and not pushing my faith any more.  I was at church every time the doors were open, going on missions trips, but I was an empty shell of a person.  Only a very few people noticed, but I knew it too.  Then the thing of this world that I thought would last forever disappeared.  That's when I finally realized how miserable I really was and how thirsty I was for an eternal, non-failing, unconditional, true love.


  Seeking God earnestly should not be a conditional practice - it should be an everyday, every situation desire and necessity.  How awesome would it be if we all looked at even menial jobs as a work of God?  How do you know that a smile on your face while you're filing papers might brighten the day of that lady at the desk across from you, who just had her husband walk away?  Or maybe a positive attitude might show the angry young man you see everyday that not all Christians are religious hypocrites like he always thought.  It's the time in between the good and the bad that really matters.  The Bible doesn't say seek me in the good times or the bad - it's unconditional.




This is a song by Francesca Battistelli called Time in Between.  I'm not crazy about the video, but at least you can listen to it and then read the lyrics under it.  I hope it touches you as much as it did me.

You were there when Your Father said
"Let there be light"
You obeyed when He whispered,
"Son, you have to leave tonight"
To spend nine months in a mother's womb
Three days in a borrowed tomb


But it's the time in between
That brings me to my knees
Knowing you came for me
And all that I can't be
I'm amazed, so amazed
And I thank You for the time in between.


Don't take much for this crazy world 
To rob me of my peace
And the enemy of my soul
Says You're holding out on me
So I stand here lifting empty hands
For You to fill me up again


But it's the time in between
That I fall down to my knees 
Waiting on what You'll bring
And the things that I can't see
I know my song's incomplete
Still I'll sing in the time in between


So many ways
Your love has saved the day
And I'm grateful for them all


But it's the time in between
The middle of two thieves
That says everything
It's the reason I believe
I'm amazed, so amazed
And I thank you for the time in between
Oh Lord, I thank you for the time in between.

Earnestly Seeking or Circumstantially Seeking?

  So there's been kind of a two-fold experience already with this Psalm 63 study.  The second experience is still happening and molding me, but the first part is pretty important as well.  To begin with, all I was doing (and sometimes I still do this) was wishing that I was doing something else.  I was wishing I could do more God-stuff.  I was wishing that I wasn't stuck with this internship so I could go do "God stuff" at a camp or on a missions trip.  And on my way back from work the other day, I was feeling the same way.  I kept running the first part of Psalm 63:1 over and over in my head and was feeling like I was too inadequate to do something important for God like working with kids or going to Africa.  By the way, two of my friends from church did each of those things so that's why they were kind of sticking out in my mind.  I kept saying "Okay God, I'm trying to earnestly seek you, but how am I supposed to really seek you if you don't give me something to do?"  And then, a small voice whispered, almost audibly, 


"Yes, but are you seeking me where you are now?"

My First Blog Post

  So I've never blogged before in my life, but I decided I would give it a try because I have tons of thoughts and have been dying to get them out before I explode.  Before I left college for the summer, one of my campus ministers gave me a challenge to try during my break.  He asked me to read and struggled with Psalm 63 with my goal being to come back to school with that passage as my song for the rest of my days (and yes those were his exact words because I saved the message).  I thought about it for a long time and decided I would give it a try.  I was very leery of it though because I usually start studies or challenges like this with good intentions, but I eventually end up forgetting or just losing interest.  But I think my campus minister knew what he was doing when he brought it to my attention because it has stuck with me to no end since I first thought about it.Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.


  I often find myself saying a prayer similar to this when I'm in trouble or at the end of my rope.  And now that I read this, I wonder how much closer I would feel to God if this were my daily, or even hourly, prayer and plea.  While reading through Psalms over the past several years, and especially the past few months, I have been constantly struck by the boldness of David - no wonder he was referred to as a man after God's own heart.  In Psalm 7, he tells God to let his enemies overtake him if he is guilty and then asks God to judge him; I don't know if I would ever be so bold to ask God to do either of those things.  And once again in chapter 63, David boldly declares God as his God.  This passage was most likely written by David while he was hiding in the Desert of Judah from his enemies.  I keep asking myself, "Would I make such a bold declaration without any hesitation or doubts if I was going through such a hard time like David?"  I know I've been "upset" with God when I was going through things and I wasn't having to hide out in a desert somewhere.  But the very first line David writes is one of praise and glory to his God.  The rest of the concepts found in verse 1 are probably the most difficult ones for me to grasp. I often find myself earnestly seeking things, but they aren't all God or even Godly things for that matter.  Of course I look for ways that God may be working, but that's usually when I'm wanting him to confirm something I want to do.  What does earnest even mean?  According to Webster's New World Dictionary, 
earnest means: serious, important, in a determined way.
When we seek God, He should be the most important thing we're going after.  Probably the one that hit me the hardest was the statement "in a determined way".  If you've ever met me, you know that I'm a very independent and determined person.  When I make up my mind to do something, nothing or no one can sway me.  So I can do that for earthly things like grades, career choice, or even leadership positions, but I can't do that for my God?