A Heavenly Facial

 

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”

—Exodus 34:29

One of the largest successful businesses bases itself on a woman’s fascination with her face, and the her desire to make it smooth, ageless, and glowing with health. You can spend a great deal of money on creams, gels, and makeup to cover any imperfections in your skin, along with spot removers, oils, and wrinkle creams. If you doubt this fact, just take a look at the website ads that pop up along the side of your screen at almost every page on Facebook.

Scripture tells of a mysterious phenomenon that happened when Moses met with God on the Mount for 40 days. This glowing of Moses’ face, mentioned by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, was nothing, Paul said, compared to what a Christian can experience:

For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory…And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This passage reminds us of the passages in the Gospels about Jesus’ Transfiguration on Mt. Hermon, as recorded in Matthew 17:1-2:

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

What characterizes each of these historic instances? They all happened to people who had spent time in solitude with God. The visible glory of the Divine Presence, in the form of the Holy Spirit, supernaturally illuminated the faces of God’s servants. We read of many times during Jesus’ earthly ministry when He found a quiet place to spend time with God. Matthew 14:23 records one such instance:

After he had dismissed them [the crowd], he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

This pattern that Jesus set for prayer He expects of us, too. In Matthew 6:6, Jesus taught:

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”

God wants to “transfigure” you in His Presence that you may know Him and take His Presence with you into the world for others to see.

I don’t know about you, but that kind of facial treatment sounds so much more beneficial and lasting than the one the television advertising offers. We may never see the Glory of Christ when we look at ourselves in the mirror, but others will see it in our lives, as we live a life of perpetual solitude in the presence of our Holy God.

 

 

Did You See That?

 

“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

—Proverbs 15:3

How often, while driving in traffic, have you seen a blatant disregard for the law and for safety? Someone passes another car on the right. A car sails by you doing 80 in a 55 mph zone. A driver makes a turn where signs clearly indicate “NO TURNS.” My reaction, is probably like yours: “Where are the police when you need them?”

The “All-Seeing Eye of God”—or, His Omnipresence—sometimes gets forgotten. We fail to remember that even our thoughts do not go unnoticed by God. In other words, God’s ability to see and perceive everything that happens to us or within us can either bring us great fear or great comfort.

From Psalm 139:4, we learn that before a word is even on our tongues, God knows it completely. That should give us pause every time we speak. In Psalm 139:11-12, we read that we can’t hide from Him. He sees in the darkness as well as in the light. It is crazy to think He can’t see us!

Yet, we can gain comfort from the fact that God sees what others do to us or say about us. Jesus taught His disciples when he first sent them out, as recorded in Matthew 10:26:

…that there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

And, He was talking about people who would abuse and betray the disciples in their ministry.

God wants us to trust Him that He does see. He does hear. He does know our pain when others malign us. Psalm 33:13 tells us that:

…from heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind.

In Psalm 33:18, The Psalmist writes:

The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.

We sometimes may lose our patience waiting on God. But, we need to realize that He will resolve all the issues that trouble us.

Abraham responded when God told him that He was about to destroy Sodom because of their great sin. Abraham believed that Lot and his family would be spared because they were “the righteous” members of that terrible society. Abraham’s rhetorical question in Genesis 18:25 reveals his trust in God’s ability to get it right:

Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

To take a sober look at God’s Omnipresence means that while we need to keep careful watch of our own behaviors, we also must learn to trust God, in His own time, to take care of those things we cannot make right when we say to Him, “Did you see that?”

 

 

God’s Flying Buttresses

 

“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

—Galatians 6:2

In a time of collapse, we would do well to have someone on whom to lean. We see this principle at work in the flying buttresses of Gothic Cathedrals.

According to Wikipedia:

“…the purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards…” which occurs with the load of heavy stone and glass in the walls of the largest buildings. “Another application of the flying buttress is to prop up a leaning wall in danger of collapse.”

The Apostle Paul was such a support to the early churches which he and other apostles founded in the first century. He not only traveled to stay with these young congregations to encourage and help them, but he wrote long letters of instruction to them so that they would not fail.

In carrying the load of these new churches, the Apostle Paul experienced endangering situations such as ship wrecks, starvation, physical problems, beatings, imprisonments, riots, and sleepless nights. In order for his ministry to continue he knew that he needed the buttressing of fellow servants of Christ to help his ministry. He relied on Titus and Timothy, John Mark, and Luke, as well as such lesser-known men as Tychicus, Epaphroditus, and women such as Nympha and Priscilla.

The Apostle Paul speaks of the Church of Christ as the Body of Christ, in which each member belongs to each other member in order to complete the whole. He admonished the Church in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up.

This theme occurs often in Paul’s writings. He knew how hard life can become and what spiritual warfare these young Christians would face.

In our present age, you may have days when you don’t feel you can go a step further. Weariness, sickness, emotional pain, along with a too-long waiting for God can beat upon you like heavy rain beats on a cathedral in a violent storm. In prayer, ask God to supply the support you need to keep from collapsing. He has already prepared a group of Christians to buttress you up during your difficult days. When the time of hardship ends, may you have the same grateful spirit as Paul did when he wrote to Philemon in verse 7:

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

 

 

Don’t Gulp Your Food!

 

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

—Psalm 119:103

I can still hear my father’s admonition at the dinner table, “Chew your food!” I suppose I might have felt the urgent need to finish the meal in order to get back to playing with my sister, or riding my bike, or any dozens of other favorite pastimes I enjoyed as a child.

Some forty years later, I heard a pastor, on the verge of retirement, talking about the ways he needed to intensify the taste of God’s Word as he got older. He shared the premise that when our taste buds are young, we have a much more discriminating pallet even for mild flavors. He likened that to a child’s ability to remember new facts, songs, poetry, and Scripture with much more ease than an older person.

When this pastor was young, he told us, he enjoyed just about any flavor of jelly on his toast. But, when he got older, he needed stronger, more intense flavors to satisfy his taste. He said that in order to remember Scriptures like he did as a child, he needed more intense practices in his devotional life as an older Christian.

This pastor particularly enjoyed memorizing scripture. He urged his congregation to learn to appreciate God’s Word by intensifying the enjoyment of it through this practice. Memorizing passages from the Bible does indeed help cement the words of truth in one’s mind and heart.

Not only do we need more intense means to learn and remember Scripture as older adults, but we also need the practice of savoring what we read. Gulping down large portions of Bible books may bring some degree of growth. But, I believe that slowing down, savoring, and delighting in what we read intensifies our experience like nothing else can do.

How can we enjoy the Scriptures in this way? Certainly, we can memorize portions of it. We can also journal verses that God points out to us. We can paraphrase portions of Scripture that God is using to teach us. We can find hymns that capture the idea of certain Scripture readings. We can meditate over the images we read about.

All of these practices should have the effect of helping us say with the Psalmist in Psalm 34:8:

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Let us determine to learn to enjoy feeding on Scripture one bite at a time.And remember, “Don’t gulp your food!”

 

 

God Said, “No”

 

“He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.”

—Luke 22:41-43

God does miracles in response to prayer! He is able! Can I get an “Amen?”

Most of us, if we’ve lived long enough, can say that God has performed miracles in behalf of people we know. He has spared us against impossible odds, has come to our rescue with resources we didn’t have or couldn’t see. He has healed those we love even after doctors did all they could do and results they hoped for didn’t come. Those miracles came with a “Yes!” answer as a result of faithful prayers.

Jesus believed, as we do, that God always heard His prayers. In John 11:41-42, He prayed:

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me.”

If God said, “No!” to Jesus in Gethsemane, certainly, we can also expect that sometimes He will say “No!” to us as well.

As we watched my sister die of multiple myeloma, we prayed in faith fully believing that God had the power to heal her. She prayed that prayer too. Yet, when we heard God say “No!” we watched her—patiently resigned, submissive, and full of grace—bow to His will. Did God still perform a miracle? He indeed did!

God, instead of saying “Yes!” to Jesus in Gethsemane, sent angels to minister to Him, gave Him power to face death, and gave Him power to shout victory over it on Resurrection morning, bringing with that victory the way for all of us to know Him and ultimately triumph over death.

As recorded in Luke 1:38, the young virgin, Mary—frightened, alarmed, and perhaps even shamed upon hearing about her one-of-its-kind pregnancy—instead of praying to have this burden removed, said:

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

Instead of saying “Yes!” to my sister and to all of us who prayed for the miracle of healing for her, God sent incredible grace, beauty beyond compare, and a witness to all who knew her of the Resurrection power He has given her, and will give anyone, who trusts in His provision for our sin.

We can have the assurance that when God says, “No!” to our prayers in one sense, He always says, “Yes!” to His power to work His will in ways we could never imagine. From Jude 24 we hear these words:

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen.

 

 

The Reckless Tongue

 

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

—James 3:6

“Why did I say that? Ugh! Not only did I embarrass myself, but may have hurt the other person with my ill-thought-through statement.”

How easily our words can trip us up, can hurt others, and belie our witness for Christ. Such tiny mistakes sometimes create such a world of trouble.

Our enemy, Satan, waits to set up a conversation wherein we easily fall for temptation to cut down someone else, or share a secret we know, or use words that ought not come from the lips of a child of the King. How easy we fall into the trap and how difficult we find it to apologize!

My poet friend, Clara, penned these words that sums up my thoughts well:

My tongue was a reckless car today
That didn’t recognize or respect the stop signs.
It ran down two people
Without thought or compunction.
It crushed a sister and bruised a brother.
So dangerously exceeding all speed limits,
It careened over the highways
Without control or fear of consequence,
Halted only by the Word of God. ¹

If we know that the temptation to speak evil comes careening through our brain and onto our lips, we need to display a healthy amount of self-control, and the foresight before we begin a day, start a conversation, or make a phone call. We need to say the words written by the Psalmist David found in Psalm 141:3:

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips.

Let us covenant with God to do our part and to rely on Him to keep us from the hurt a runaway tongue can inflict on others!

______________________

1 Ruffin, Clara V. He’s Prepared My Heart for Harvest. Hartford, CT: Food for Thought, 1998.

 

 

Commands With Blessings in Their Mouthsby Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686)

 

“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.”

—1 Samuel 15:22

“It is not enough just to hear God’s voice, but we must obey it. Obedience is part of the honour we owe God. It is the beauty of a Christian, makes us precious to God, and makes us one of his favourites (Exodus 19:5). What are the ingredients in our obedience that will make it acceptable?

1. It must be performed freely and cheerfully, or it is penance, not sacrifice. Hypocrites obey God grudgingly, and against their will. Cain brought his sacrifice, but not his heart. [Genesis+4:1-5] Cheerfulness shows that there is love in the duty.
   
   
2. Obedience should be devout and fervent—not as a snail in a dull, slothful manner. As water boils over, so the heart must boil over with hot affections in the service of God. Obedience without fervency is like a sacrifice without fire. Elijah’s prayer brought fire from heaven because it carried fire up to heaven. [2 Kings 1:10]
   
   
3. We must obey all of God’s commands. Hypocrites will obey God in the things which require little effort, and that raise their reputation, but leave other things undone. Herod would listen to John the Baptist, but would not leave his incest. [Mark 6:17-19]
   
   
4. Obedience must be sincere. We must aim at God’s glory in it. The object of our obedience is not just to stop the mouth of conscience, or to gain applause, but that we might grow more like God.
   
   
5. Obedience must be constant. True obedience is like the fire on the altar which was always kept burning. A hypocrite’s obedience is but for a season; it is like whitewash, which is soon washed off. God’s commands are not grievous, and he commands nothing unreasonable. [1 John 5:3]
   
   

“To obey God is not so much our duty as our privilege. His commands carry blessings in their mouth. There is love in every command, as if a king bid one of his subjects to dig in a gold mine, and then keep the gold for himself.” ¹

______________________

1 From “The Ten Commandments,” by Thomas Watson, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 220.