Being Beloved

Sense of Sight In A Season Of Intention

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:1-12

There are those things that seem to happen by default. If no intention is set the usual thing happens. Where there is no vision the people perish, this is what Solomon taught us in his Proverbs. There are certain things we each know will get done, no matter what, they will just get done.

The habitual sort of things like we will brush our teeth. We will do the dishes before we cook more food. We might exercise or read every evening. The habitual things can sneak up on us and before we know it if someone were to ask us why we are doing whatever we are doing, we might be surprised to realize that we aren’t certain.

If there is ever a time when we need to be intentional it is the Christmas season. Two questions come to mind. “What are you doing here Elijah?” (1Kings 19:9) and “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) Of course, God knew where Adam and Eve were and what Elijah was doing there. The question was asked because I think God wanted them each to have some introspection.

Because God sees the darkness as bright as the light of day. He sees when we stumble around seeking to cover ourselves up before God sees. Prideful distrust took the place of walking with God. Convinced there is much much more and we will get it all if we do this one more thing, pick up this one more beautiful ornament. Unlike Adam and Eve, Elijah had come away from an obedient victory.

Elijah was hiding alone in a cave. Depressed and fearful he was ready to be done and perhaps even die. Exhaustion, grief, depression does this to our human bodies. Confusion and forgetfulness of God’s providence forces us into a state of slinking shamefully away.

The opposite of great pride is false humility and both are illusions. We are not smarter than God, so we shouldn’t overcomplicate His commands and promises to us. Nor, are we so willing and humble as Christ was with pure motivations to die for His friends as well as His enemies. Before anyone gets upset I am in no way saying depression is a sin!

It is the behavior depression untreated or ignored can bring about. When we begin to tell ourselves a lie about who we truly are or who God has proven to be, then I think we begin to sin. If we are alive we are meant to be alive. Life here in the physical world is a blessing, a gift many souls have never been able to fully experience.

This is a season where life should be thoughtful. Words with meaning that go deeper than “Merry” or “Happy” need to be expressed. Because “merry or happy” has nothing to do with the celebration of Christ. God with us, Emmanuel. God the Creator started a walk with mankind in Eden, in the cool of the evening He walked in this garden.

God knew us and He still does. Default is a sort of failure. God knows our habits when we hide away isolated or when we do the wrong thing and we respond the same old way instead of with the intention to move closer to Him. Our God is a God of newness.

He sees the whole vision and gives us glimpses when we are mature enough to act upon what He has so faithfully shown us. When we ask the right questions, like where am I? and what am I doing here? Questions are needed to help our soul look deeper. When we engage with intention we are allowing the new to change us as we leave the old behind.

Expect Him with hope.

Photo by Seoyeon Choi on Unsplash


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