Beauty
2009-12-14

Feeling better still today. Christi met with the psych at Springwood. I didn't go to the visit this evening, because I did some errands this morning and was up a little late. I will go tomorrow. Steph should get to come home Wednesday or Thursday. I will continue to seek the Lord's face.

My Psalm for today is Psalm 135. It begins and ends with "Hallelujah!" Shouldn't our whole lives be that way? My day should begin and end with "Hallelujah!" God is eternal, and never "out-of-date." He is relevant. Always. And he takes his people by the hand to lead them.

From Calvin: "We have here a general description of the power of God, to show the Israelites that the God they worshipped was the same who made the world, and rules over all according to his will, neither is there any other besides him.
"...his glory, so far as was seen fit, has been sufficiently manifested, to leave all the world without excuse for ignorance. How can one who has enjoyed a sight of the heavens and of the earth shut his eyes so as to overlook the Author of them without sin of the deepest dye?"

Paul supports this in the book of Romans, when he tells us that we are without excuse because God has given enough evidence of himself in the creation.


Today, Tabletalk Magazine focuses on 2 Corinthians 4:6, which says, "For God, who said 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

This shining in our hearts is none other than the power of the Holy Spirit, which is what enables us to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible we are reading is the authoritative Word of God. Without the benefit of the Holy Spirit, no one can believe this. Not only that, no one can understand it, either, without the Holy Spirit shining in our hearts.

However, what I want to focus on, though, is that when he shines in me, I should be shining on others. The light that is in my heart should be visible outwardly. Not, of course, literally looking like I'm lit up like a light bulb, but that there should be a visible difference in my countenance. This doesn't mean that I should go around grinning like an idiot all the time. But it does mean that I should always look like I have hope in my life. Because I do. Even when things seem hopeless, like they occasionally have in the past couple of weeks, I should be displaying hope. Because I do have hope. I have the hope of the Almighty God of the ages in my heart, shining through the power of the Holy Spirit with the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."


Thank you, Father, for hope. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, without which I would never have believed in you or understood your words. I have hope in my heart, Lord, no matter what. I will not give that up. I will not forsake that. I pray that it will shine out for all to see. When I'm at work tonight, and someone interrupts what I'm doing, let the hope of Jesus Christ shine through me, rather than the annoyance of being interrupted. You are bigger than that. Fill me up, Lord! Fill me up.

I praise you for the evidence of you that surrounds us in creation. I pray for the souls of those who are too depraved to notice or too busy to see it. Let me never become so wrapped up in myself or my own problems that I can't take a minute to see beauty. Especially YOUR beauty, because you are beautiful, Lord! Infinitely beautiful!


"O Lord, you're beautiful;
Your face is all I seek.
And when your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me."

Grace and peace, friends.



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