The Living One Who Sees Me

“I have seen the Living One Who sees me!”

For Hagar, God pulls back the one-way curtain (He always sees us, but we don’t always see Him). He reveals Himself to her near a spring that is beside the road to Shur. Though He already knows the answer, He asks her, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answers. Translation: running away and going nowhere.

Then the angel of the Lord gives Hagar a startling command and an amazing promise: “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” He adds, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” On the basis of this revelation, Hagar “names” God: “You are the God who sees me.” She goes on, “At this well, I have seen the Living One who sees me.” That is why the well was called “Beer Lahai Roi [The well of the Living One who sees me.”]

“He who formed the eye” (Psalm 94:9) sees everything, but that’s not the point. Though Hagar was a woman, a slave, an outcast, lost, despised and rejected, God saw her in her need and considered her important. She got a glimpse of God and a whole lot more.

He Rests (Really?)

“That was fun!” God said, “Now it’s time to sit back and enjoy it!” (Jan Brueghel, the Younger, 1601-1678)

“And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”  Genesis 2:2.

In the creation story, we read about unimaginable power, an explosion of everything-from-nothing activity that our minds cannot possibly grasp. In the infinite vastness of space, a dazzling array of stars and planets, along with all life, micro and macro, come into existence, full of life energy, It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Didn’t God need to rest after all that? No, He did not, at least not as we do when we are tired. Just because it pleased Him, the Lord took the creation of all that now exists one step at a time. He performed each step deliberately, majestically, and in a definite order. God seemed to enjoy each step, but He did not rest until the work of creation was done.

But did He really rest? Only from the creative activity. Having finished creation, He’s been working on Redemption for more than a few thousand years. Jesus said: “My Father is always working, and so am I” (John 5:17). In addition to working in our lives, He’s also preparing us mansions (John 14) and a City (Revelation 21-22) so that we can enter into His “rest” (Hebrews 4) and get in on some of the fun that He’s having. We know that God never sleeps, but does He ever really rest? Why would He want to rest if He doesn’t need to? Why should He rest if He’s having fun opening up His treasures and fellowshipping with His children?

GOD IS NOT DEAD! HE’S NOT EVEN TIRED!

God the Rock, God the Eagle

The house built on the Rock survived the storm.

“The Rock! His work is perfect. For all His ways are just…. He has made you and established you…. He is like an eagle that stirs up His nest, that  hovers over its young.  Deut 32: 4,11.

Moses is using two images to describe God.  First, the Rock. The surface of our planet is covered by water and rocks (or geological strata) with varying degrees of hardness. We cannot stand on water (unless we’re Jesus or Peter). Sand is constantly shifting and unstable, and mud is the same. Both are perilous foundations in a flood. God the Rock is our firmest foundation against life’s storms. He undergirds us and gives us stability, even when everything else is being swept away.

Second, the hovering eagle, an image that conveys power, protection, and majesty. Eagles do not fear a storm. Eagles do not fear a serpent. They soar over all. That’s how God is. He guards us in the shelter of His wings, unless He decides its time for us to fly and “soar on wings like eagles.” Then, He stirs up the nest. Sometimes things may look chaotic, unsafe, turbulent, but sometimes it’s God pushing us out of the nest, out of our comfort zone.

I don’t know. I like the nest. But then, I also like to fly.

OK, eaglets, it’s time to leave your comfort zone and fly!

Here Comes the Heavenly Cavalry!

Step on it! Mike’s praying again!

“Who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deut. 33:26‑27

Just picture Jesus on His horse (like in Revelation), riding across the heavens to help us. The Lord of the heavenly cavalry is charging to your rescue, and He’s bringing an army of angels to help. He does this because He cares for you. He proved that on calvary. (Note: calvary, from Latin, “the skull.” Cavalry, from Latin, cavalos, “the horse.”

This God is our Rescuer, and He is a secure dwelling place, a refuge to which we can run. We live in Him, and He lives in us. He is an eternal refuge, always there for us. His everlasting arms hold us up and undergird us.

“The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms.”

Moses Gets a Glimpse

“He lives in unapproachable light.”

“Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord,  the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth.”  Exodus 34:6

No man can see God and live. Moses got as much of a glimpse of God as God thought he could handle. He got a glimpse of His backside as He passed by  proclaiming who He is.  He is the Lord God The Master‑Creator, the Eternal “I am”.  He says, “I am compassionate. I am gracious. I am slow to anger. I am abounding in loving kindness and truth.” This is an authoritative description of God given by God Himself. These are “major qualities” in His character.

According to God, it takes a long time to bring Him to anger, but we seem to do a good  job of it because we are so persistent.  When God is angry with humanity, humanity deserves whatever He sends. On the other hand, He describes Himself as patient, compassionate, loving, and kind.  If these did not predominate in His character, we would be in some serious trouble. Thank God, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

Frightening Demons Are Frightened of Him

Their name was “Legion.” 6,000+ in one man.

Scary demons were afraid of Him. When He told them to leave, they had to leave. No created being can resist the spoken command of the Creator.

Mark 5:6-13 (ESV):  And when he saw Jesus from afar, the man ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”  

And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.  Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,  and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”

So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

“There is no power in hell, nor any who can stand before the power and the presence of the great I AM!”

“What Other King?”

He left it all to take the form of a man and die a criminal’s death on a cross.

Here’s a great glimpse:

“What other king leaves his throne,

leaves his glory to die?

This is amazing grace,

this is unfailing love,

that You would take my place,

that You would bear my cross.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn5zk3yCRr0

A Glimpse of God May Not Be Warm and Fuzzy

Cool, but Isaiah’s vision was way more awesome and glorious.

Isaiah 6: In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

I love being in the presence of God. I feel renewed. I get peace, sometimes wisdom, often the sense that “God’s got it.” But literally being in the presence of the Almighty, my Father? That might not be so warm and fuzzy. I can’t even imagine trembling as an unrepentant sinner before the Judgment Seat. Even as His child, one forgiven and loved, I tremble at the thought.

Some of my glimpses of God have humbled me to tears, made me think twice about my foolish thoughts, caused me to fall on my knees in worship before the holy King whose train fills the temple, whose glory fills the whole earth, the General of the Angel Armies. Even the seraphim (flames of fire) shield themselves from the brightness of His face. How can our miniscule minds imagine that or even take it all in? No wonder Isaiah cried, “Woe is me! I am ruined.”

Not fun, warm, or fuzzy, but maybe we need more glimpses like this one. Maybe our country needs a fresh encounter like Isaiah’s.

God the Dynamo, inside me

I got an even more powerful one inside me.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised us “power” (Greek, dunamis, from which we get “dynamo,” an electric generator). A generator can generate power but it depends on another source, wind, water, or the movement of an engine.

Inside me is a divine Generator, a source of energy that is constantly renewed through prayer, worship, and just being in the presence of my Maker. That Living Water that flows through me keeps my spiritual generator cranking out the amps. When I experience it, I get a glimpse of the awesome God who raises the dead. I have the power that spoke the universe into existence. It comes from the One for whom nothing is impossible or even hard. His name is not “The Force.” It’s JESUS!

Our God is a Consuming Fire

Put the fear of God into them.

“And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.”  Exodus 24:17.

There really is no way to describe what they were seeing. They saw the glory of the Lord covering the mountain top, which was ablaze with beautiful, fiery light.  God is powerfully dynamic, not  static and boring. He is indescribably glorious, “brighter than the sun in all its glory.” This is a part of knowing the God we worship, here giving us a glimpse of just one aspect of His appearance.

His fire will be our light in heaven and will consume us (but not destroy us) in joy and glory forever. We should therefore be zealous, on fire for God, not cold or lukewarm but hot. As we learn to reverence and respect Him, we remember the  glory and power of His presence, that His fire may either create or destroy.  We do not forget the consuming fire of the judgment seat of Christ where our works will be tested.  Some will be refined as gold and silver.  Others will disintegrate like wood, stubble, and hay (I Corinthians 3:12-14). “For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

Maybe something closer to this?