|
[back]
May
Looking and Seeing
Dear Friends,
About a year ago I noticed an interesting plant springing up near our back patio. Debi and I decided to let it grow and determine whether we wanted to keep it. Soon we realized that what we had was a Mimosa tree. That knowledge brought back a flood of childhood memories for me because Mimosas were common in this area when I was a boy. I thought we had an opportunity to preserve a rare tree. However, I began to notice Mimosas almost everywhere I drove. They had always been there but my renewed acquaintance with the tree had opened my eyes to their existence. When we tried to transplant our Mimosa, it did not survive, and I have not noticed another Mimosa for quite some time.
This little experience has reminded me of Hamlet's words to his friend: There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. For us, there is infinitely more to our Savior and His salvation than we ever perceive. There are blessings always surrounding us of which we are oblivious because we do not look for them with engaged interest.
Our weak apprehensions of the Lord and His blessings in our lives do not indicate that He is not near to us, blessing us richly at all times. He never leaves or forsakes us (Heb. 13:5). He gives His angels charge over us (Ps. 91:11). His grace for us is sufficient, even in the most painful trials (2 Cor. 12:9). If we do not see our Lord and apprehend his abundant and loving help, it is not because He is nowhere to be found. Instead, we need better to employ the power of perception our Lord has given us.
How can we perceive more clearly the nearness and blessing of our God? The one power of spiritual perception our Lord had graciously given to all of His children is faith. But we can easily slip or be distracted into relying on our own sight and our own understanding in our endeavors to see our God. Therefore, we must ever pray that our Lord open the eyes of our hearts so that we might behold wonders and treasures of our redemption in His Word (Ps. 119:18; Eph. 1:18ff). Then, through the spectacles of God's Word, we will look for and see our God ever, only, and always being lovingly near us in the world and working ever, only, and always for our good (Rom. 8:28).
Sometimes, however, our prayers are offered to God but not followed through by ourselves. When we ask the Lord to open our eyes to behold Him, we should understand that He reveals Himself to us when we ask, seek, and knock after Him with all of our hearts (Jer. 29:13; Matt. 7:7). It was my lively interest in the Mimosa that made me see many of them all around me. My interest did not create all those trees, but without such interest, I was and now again am oblivious to their abundant reality. May we all have a more constant, vital, and loving interest in our God so that we may see and not be oblivious to His great, precious, and loving promises and provision.
Yours, learning better to see,
William Harrell
[back]
|
Sunday
Morning Worship 10:30 AM
Evening Worship
6:30 PM
Wednesday
Christian Education
7:00 PM
Saturday
Congregational Prayer Meeting
7:00 PM |
