God Sees Potential More than Fault

Your thoughts and plans are treasures to me, O God! I cherish each and every one of them!
    How grand in scope! How many in number!
If I could count each one of them, they would be more than all the grains of sand on earth. Their number is inconceivable!

 (Psalm 139:17-18a, The Voice)

  Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

 

 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

(Genesis 17:3-6,15-17, NIV) 

 

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message)

 

The thoughts of the son ran thus: 'My hopes painted beautiful pictures, but they are fading one by one.'

 

His Father said: 'Destroy all those pictures. To watch them slowly fading is weakening to the soul. Dare then to destroy them. You can if you will. I will give you other pictures instead of those your hopes painted.'

 Amy Carmichael 

 

God doesn't see the way I do either; I look all the time into a distorted mirror that exaggerate some features and makes others disappear. God sees a true picture of me with all my faults and limitations, but more than this he sees a picture of all the possibilities and potential I hold. 

 

'Just let me get my hands on this one,' He thinks, 'and then just wait and see what the finished picture will be.' 

 

Sometimes God gives us glimpses of that picture to encourage us and spur us on. For me it is a long process, but in the end it is all about becoming God's picture of me. (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec.10)

Let Your Heart Glance Up to Me

 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

(Psalm 139:13-18, NIV)

 

You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
    you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
    with one jewel of your necklace.

(Song of Songs 4:9, NIV) 

 

“And this is the reason a man leaves his father and his mother and is united with his wife; the two come together as one flesh.”  There is a great mystery reflected in this Scripture, and I say that it has to do with the marriage of the Anointed One and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32, The Voice)

 

The pilgrim worried that sometimes he would not have much time to care for his love-relationship with God. Then the Lord spoke to him and answered his unspoken question: 

"Do you have only one minute? Hem it in with quietness. Do not spend it in thinking how little time you have. I can give you much in one minute." 

The pilgrim sat by the water, and his dear Lord said to him: 

As the ripples of the river glance up to the light, let your heart glance up to me in little looks of love very often through the day. 

 

Amy Carmichael 

 

The old couple sat with each other in peaceable silence, and no signal was needed for the kettle to go on, or the tea to be poured, the fire tended to. 

 

'What do you find to do all the time, after all these years? ' someone asked the old lady, 'Don't you ever tire of each other's company?'

 

'Oh no,' she replied, 'You see, it's like this: I looks at him, and he looks at me, and we're happy together.'

 

(Northumbria, Aiden readings, Dec.7) 

 

Into the Desert with Jesus

 You have surrounded me on every side, behind me and before me,

    and You have placed Your hand gently on my shoulder.

(Psalm 139:5, The Voice)

Who is this coming up from the wilderness

    leaning on her beloved?

(Song of Songs 8:5a, NIV)

Very early in the morning, 

while it was still dark, 

Jesus got up, 

left the house 

and went off to a solitary place, 

where he prayed.

(Mark 1:35, NIV)

We are asked to follow the footsteps of our Lord when they are not clear on the road, and even when the road runs through desert. 

Going into the desert we are never quite sure what to expect. Being alone can be peaceful, or frightening, or just don't nothing. But coming out of the desert we find that we are leaning on him in a new way. 

The Russian word poustinia only means desert, but is the name given to the wooden hut where someone is shut away for time alone with God. 

It is a typical experience for the person undergoing poustinia to feel nothing is happening at all, but as they emerge they find others waiting, pressing them to share what God has given them in the poustinia. 

And they will not be disappointed.

(Northumbria, Aidan readings, Dec. 5)

Meet God in His Stillness

 If I ride on the wings of morning,

    if I make my home

     in the most isolated 

     part of the ocean,

Even then You will be there to guide me;

    Your right hand will embrace me,

      for You are always there.

(Psalm 139:9-10, The Voice)

A word was secretly brought to me,

    my ears caught a whisper of it.

Amid disquieting dreams in the night,

    when deep sleep falls on people.

(Job 4:12-13, NIV)

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you. 

(1 Thessalonians 4:11, NIV)

The face of all kinds of pain we find that often there is nothing to say, but it's impossible to be still. 

A woman whose child had been killed in an accident talked about her reactions. No one could say anything that would help, she said, and God was silent too - as if he knew better than to try to say anything. 

The Scripture says to be still and know that He is God, but she couldn't be still, not at all. 

But even when you don't talk to God or have any stillness of your own to bring him, you can still be met by God in His stillness. 

That's why she discovered, that eventually

 'the stillness becomes part of you.'

(Photo by <a href="https://stockcake.com/i/cozy-morning-view_190710_33604">Stockcake</a>)

The Wastefulness of Jesus

 But I am a worm and not a human being,
    a disgrace and an object of scorn.
Everyone who sees me laughs at me;

    they whisper to one another I’m a loser; they sneer and mock me. 

(Psalm 22:6-7)

 

 

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied. 

The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” 

(Exodus 4:2-3a)

 

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” 

 (Matthew 26:6-13)

 

God tells Moses to throw down even the one thing he still holds in his hand. 

 

Jesus, having come to our world as a human being, becomes more humbled still, his life taken from him in the ugliest of executions - what a waste it looked! His life was poured out in intentional uselessness, like the expensive ointment the woman poured on his head. 

 

Some of us are indignant at the waste, like Judas was. 

 

Some of us are envious of her - at least she had the ointment. 

 

We would like to have something to give, to pour out for love of him, but we don't have even that. It seems we don't have anything. 

 

Nothing to offer except our uselessness, and our choice to be with him: and that is a choice that no one but him is likely to put any value on.

 

(Northumbria, Aidan readings, Dec. 3) 

 

 

Into the Unknown with Jesus

 Preserve my life, for I am godly;

    save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. 

Be gracious to me, O Lord,

    for to you do I cry all the day.

 Gladden the soul of your servant,

    for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

(Psalm 86:2-4, ESV)

 

 

Alas, wherever I go, ahead or behind,
        He is not there;
        I am unable to find Him.
When He works on either side of me, I still cannot see Him.
        I catch no glimpse of Him.
But He knows the course I have traveled.
        And I believe that were He to prove me,
        I would come out purer than gold from the fire.
My foot has been securely set in His tracks;
        I have kept to His course of life without swerving;
I have not departed from the commands of His lips;
        I have valued everything He says more than all else.
He alone is one True God; who can alter Him?
        Whatever He desires within Himself, He does.
For He will carry out exactly what He has planned for me,
        and in the future there are more plans to come.

(Job 23:8-14, The Voice)

 

Do not take money with you: don’t take gold, silver, or even small, worthless change. Do not pack a bag with clothes. Do not take sandals or a walking stick. Be fed and sheltered by those who show you hospitality. When you enter a town or village, look for someone who is trustworthy and stay at his house as long as you are visiting that town. When you enter this home, greet the household kindly. And if the home is indeed trustworthy, let your blessing of peace rest upon it; if not, keep your blessing to yourself. If someone is inhospitable to you or refuses to listen to your testimony, leave that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. This is the truth: Sodom and Gomorrah, those ancient pits of inhospitality, will fare better on judgment day than towns who ignore you tomorrow or next week.
 

Listen: I am sending you out to be sheep among wolves. You must be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. You must be careful. You must be discerning. You must be on your guard. There will be men who try to hand you over to their town councils and have you flogged in their synagogues. Because of Me, naysayers and doubters will try to make an example out of you by trying you before rulers and kings. When this happens—when you are arrested, dragged to court—don’t worry about what to say or how to say it. The words you should speak will be given to you. For at that moment, it will not be you speaking; it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:9-20, The Voice)

 

It is a terrible risk to follow even a Friend into the unknown. It is made worse by the fact that he so often seems to disappear or go ahead instead of staying close by. 

 

The instructions he gives us should make it so much easier to continue our journey: but what instructions?  

 

'Don't provide extra for yourself in case I let you down.'
'Don't worry what to say.'
'I will be there when you need me, even if it's only at the last moment.' 

 

Instructions like these leave us incredibly vulnerable but they are only examples of what he is really asking from us: that we choose intentionally, deliberately to make ourselves vulnerable and to walk in that vulnerability! (Northumbria, Aidan readings, Dec. 2)

 

 

The Stranger Can See Through Different Eyes

 O my God, shine Your light and truth
    to help me see clearly,

To lead me to Your holy mountain,

    to Your home.

 (Psalm 43:3, The Voice) 

 

 After Methuselah was born, 

Enoch lived in a close relationship with God 

for 300 more years; 

he also had other sons and daughters. 

He lived to be 365 years old, 

but Enoch had such a close and intimate 

relationship with God 

that one day he just vanished

—God took him. 

(Genesis 5:22-24, The Voice)

 

If they were homesick for the old country, 

they could have gone back any time they wanted. 

But they were after a far better country than that

—heaven country. 

You can see why God is so proud of them, 

and has a City waiting for them. 

(Hebrews 11:15-16, The Message) 

 

This month's notes are on the subject of the call to a deeper life. 

One dynamic of that call is the sense that where we really belong is somewhere else, that we have heard something inside us calling us to, 'Come away.' We belong to a different Kingdom: our home is another country. It is often like this: 

'Follow me.'

'Yes, Lord, I'll follow you ... But Lord ...'

'Yes?'

'Where to? Where will I be going?'

'With me.'

From time to time the sense of alienation from everything around us may be strong, the sense of being a stranger, someone on a journey; but the stranger can see things through different eyes from those of people who live in that one place all the time. 

This world is not my home ...

(Northumbria, Aidan readings, Dec. 1)