It Is Worth Our Looking
New releases halted.
Restaurants closed.
Sporting events postponed.
Traveling hindered.
Faces masked.
Plans cancelled.
Distance measured.
Gatherings avoided.
Families separated.
Churches divided.
Schools paused.
How long will it be this way?
The undefined timetable of this life we have come to know over the past few months is what stings the most. How long will we fear connection, how long will the days be filled with increasing unknowns or how long will our prayers hang without clear answers?
With each yes and each no, there seems to be a heavier weight attached assessing risk and value in correlating fashion. One misstep may lead to grave implications or simply be without meaningful consequence. But how do we know?
If there ever has been a time to turn our eyes to a reality beyond our day to day it is now.
Generations before us experienced a time of war, a crippling economy or widespread sickness yet for many still, earth continues to captivates our attention and our affection with the accessibility of fame, comforts of home and promises of prosperity alike.
When our longings for daily bread are met so readily with eyes fixed downward, there is less to capture our gaze upward.
Until now.
Perhaps you, like me, have noticed the subtle whispers and floating thoughts visiting our quiet moments with increasing frequency; longings for a better home, a home where grief is less common and fear less griping. A home where navigating the road ahead is a bit less foggy and more hope-filled.
How can a loving God allow this life for His children?
While the answer is lengthy, perhaps it is not all that complex.
He can remain a loving God and allow suffering because this is not the home he designed for His children. Not only is this not the home he designed, this is not our forever home. He tells us of a home prepared for those who love Him and it is nothing like the reality we experience today.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4 ESV
The suffering, the lack, the emptiness all point us to a truer realization that we are not intended to live this way forever. Understanding this life is not the end, allows each pressing pain and stinging sorrow to be a gift that captures our hearts toward something beyond the daily doubts. The good news? He has already made a way for us to get there. We just have to trust.
One challenge remains: how do I navigate the life before me, if complete answers are not guaranteed in my lifetime?
More recently my paramount prayer has become, God help me to experience you right here and right now. Even if the pain prolongs, even if threats of joy continue and even if your answers to my prayers are ‘not now’, I want to experience you in fullness today. Within that experience then and only then may I find joy and peace and strength to press on. But how?
Our earthly experiences travel through five beautifully created senses. We cannot experience anything fully without taste, touch, smell, sight or sound. Even in lives where one is not possible, deeper experience is made manifest through the others.
Andrea Bocelli can hear music and deliver a verse with unmatched aptitude though his ability to see the world around him is restricted. While not in full measure, I can experience France from the comfort of my Texas home, with a simple pour of Châteauneuf-du-Pape accompanied with a truffle filled cheese. This is also why a song can carry a flood of memories that transports us back to a specific time and place within seconds.
In that light, what then will captivate our senses in the waiting, in the part but not whole of redeemed life?
May I invite you to explore with me and pray for the senses of our hearts to be enlightened and renewed in this season of increasing question and difficulty?
What if this season for you is defined by an experience of God you would never have encountered otherwise?
TOUCH
Do you find yourself doubting God today?
Over the years, as my young kids have asked pointedly about whether God is real, I use the wind as a way to explain. Wind; you can’t see the wind, but you know it is there. Why? You can feel it, and you can see the effects of wind on creation. You can hear the effects of wind as it blows through trees and whistles a tune through the narrowest of cracks. Just because you can’t see, you can fully experience wind as it touches you, as you experience it.
Henri Nouwen, a respected author and priest said,
“God’s first language is nature. God’s presence is in the things that are closest to us, things that we can touch and feel, that we move and live with day by day. While it is true that God is a hidden presence, we have only to let nature speak to us about the God who is everywhere. Be it a small flower or a hazelnut or any other created thing, something of God can be found in it.”
As doubts come, and know that they come to all of us, be assured that you can pray for God to help your unbelief.
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 ESV
I pray that as you experience him in fresh and tangible ways, his touch on your life would be undeniable.
“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:27-28 ESV
Action + Reflection:
Take some time and reflect or write about how God has touched you. Was it through nature? Was it through a friend? Was it through provision that only God could have orchestrated?
Record it and remind yourself of his faithfulness.
TASTE
Scripture takes us directly to the senses of seeing and taste through the very act of taking refuge in God. As we literally trust him to be a safe place to abide, to rest, to ponder, to wrestle, to cry and to hide, we are also able to figuratively taste of his lasting goodness. His goodness then nourishes us for our journey through the highest of mountains to the most desolate of deserts.
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8 ESV
Action + Reflection:
How have you tasted the goodness of God around your home, your workplace, your table? Use this encouragement as nourishment to sustain you on the journey ahead.
Breaking bread together as a family can be an opportunity to taste the love of God in a tangible way. How could you view the next meal, not in light of calories, but in the level of grace-filled nourishment provided by a Creator.
In case you missed it, further reading on what it looks like for him to be our refuge can be found HERE.
SMELL
Throughout the Old Testament, ongoing sacrifices were made to God as an act of worship in exchange for favor, protection and forgiveness.
The beauty of what Jesus accomplished on our behalf through his death was that he became the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, that assures favor, protection, forgiveness, and even adoption for us once and for all. We have no need to make animal sacrifices or living sacrifices today in order to receive these gifts. That is why we call it grace. Jesus set his love on us while we were still sinners imperfect with all of our mess and doubts, therefore, these gifts are ours if we simply trust in him.
Rather than constantly striving or trying to be ‘good enough’ in order to please God, we can rest in the sacrificial love of Jesus on our behalf. With a fully surrendered posture of trust, lives lived out of obedience and love become a pleasing aroma to our loving God.
“It is a burnt offering to the LORD. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.” Exodus 29:18
Fascinatingly, in the culinary world, we cannot fully taste if we do not have the ability to smell. These two senses work in tandem to bring the fullest of experiences. As we live with increasing trust in God, we will certainly taste his goodness in all areas of our life.
Action + Reflection:
Where are you still striving to earn God’s love?
What areas of your life are you able to release to him today?
SOUND
In the book, Discernment, Nouwen also speaks to the value of a contemplative life; “contemplation looks not so much at things as through them”. Growing in discernment comes not only from reading the word of God but also from learning to listen to what God is saying to us. Nouwen says,
“Discernment requires not only reading with the heart but being willing to put down the book we are reading to just listen to what God is saying to us through its words. We need to hear again and again that we are the beloved of God.”
There are some great books out there and many I read shape my understanding of who God is in profound ways. Nothing, however, is a substitute for cultivating quiet space and time to listen for God. We must learn to quiet the noise around us and in our heads in order to cultivate the discipline of listening to his voice above our own.
“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort.” Job 21:2
Action + Reflection:
Create an action plan today to find time for 10 minutes of quiet. Do nothing. Don’t read. Don’t write. Sit and listen.
Is there a way to add that into the regular rhythms of your day?
SIGHT
“God is always speaking to us, but it requires spiritual discernment to hear God’s voice, see what God sees, and read the signs in daily life.” - Henri Nouwen
How do we know what God wants for our lives? How do we read through the lines to accept our calling in life?
We can look for God in a variety of ways, but what is most important is not where you see him but that you continue to live a life that seeks him.
“But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV
Even when it is not clear, if you continue to search for his answer, his will, his direction, you will find him.
In our searching, I pray we will discern light from dark. I pray that we will continue to run the race before us with our eyes fixed on the finish line, not glancing back to our shortcomings or disappointments. Remember the best is yet to come as we believe in One who keeps his promises.
On your darkest days, on your most frustrating days, on your most disappointing days, there is always some place to look. There is always someone to look to, look for, look at to help guide you on the next step.
While we cannot see in full today, as Elisabeth Elliot says in her book, These Strange Ashes,
“We know in part. We see through a glass darkly. But it is worth our looking.”
Action + Reflection:
Where do your eyes naturally glance during the challenging parts of your day?
Is that area worth your looking?
Overall, we know God is bigger than just our senses.
He does not exist simply to please our senses.
He exists in ways that we cannot fully express or experience solely on our terms.
However, I am confident that as you look for him and taste his goodness and hear his voice, you will begin to know him and experience him in a powerful and life-changing way.