I’ve been acutely aware recently how time can so easily pass quite legitimately in a flurry of activities and in response to daily demands. Not so much the bigger picture of ‘wow where did that year go’, but more the day to day hours and how hard it is to protect quiet time ... time to ponder and deepen our appreciation of God’s majesty ... to truly get to know Him.
I am often helped and have real fleeting moments of appreciation for God, with a glimpse of something I wish I could really grasp, understand and protect, as though I could hold onto it within me and never let it go. Once again, David Gooding’s book ‘Bringing us to Glory’ provided one of these moments. In part 6 ‘Prayer’ (the disciple’s journey), he reminds me that I am justified and no longer need to ‘stand at a distance’ ... I can come right into the presence of God because I am completely accepted by him ... I am a redeemed personality and by abiding in him, my mind will begin to renew and I will begin to bear fruit. Yet what is amazing to me, is not just that I can approach God, but that he in the highest, elevated position of power and undisturbed glory, infinitely above earths affairs, “regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer” (Psalm 102v17). He looks down from his sanctuary, he views earth from heaven and listens to us ... the transcendent God has not only looked down, but has come down ... his care is beyond our comprehension. He always hears the prayers and cries from earth.
We have lost appreciation for God’s name ... it is not honoured and hallowed as it should be, it is devalued and defamed even by us as Christians. We have most definitely lost the sense of holiness and what it means day to day.
I believe that if I were to protect time each day to learn more about my God ... his holiness, his glory, his majesty ... then my very being would become more aligned with his will for my life ... my choices, my prayer requests, my attitude and perspective would become more like that of Christ’s ... how marvelous! I know that I have a sense of who he is in a basic way, but it’s growth is thwarted by the lack of dedicated time to develop it into anything deeper, plus the fact that my mind is so puny and can only cope with a certain amount of thoughts each day, most of which are absorbed with mundane day to day ‘stuff’. I get so frustrated when I try really hard to stretch my mind to attempt at comprehending eternal and heavenly things only to hit what is the wall of human limitation and ignorance with a lot of tired thrown in!
I long for more glimpses of glory.
I long to live in the light of them.
In amongst the daily existence of being a mother and many others things, if I am to grow and deepen my appreciation for the God whom I will one day meet and spend eternity with, I must be resolute in my time management ... I must stand my ground so that I can grow healthy roots, to flourish and enlarge my capacity to understand and live for his glory. Not an easy task ... more of a committed grind, but one with consequences of significant magnitude eternally. Of course our enemy with his machiavellian plans to prevent this very desire, will be upping his attacks ... thank goodness God is greater and is available to strengthen us daily to cope with and defeat his undermining tactics and lies.
I feel small and insignificant, a speck ... yet God in all his magnificence chooses to notice each of us specks on this earth and he hopes to hear from us. Quite astonishing!
Ingrid x
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