Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe
One of the things that I have learnt from those who practice the Jewish faith is that it is both healthy and necessary to keep coming back to square one and declaring the blessedness of God’s sovereignty. Ultimately, everything hinges on who God is, what He has said and done and what He will do in the future.
My wife, Catherine, often reminds me that when I walk, I have a tendency to hunch my shoulders and look at my feet. I have some excuse for that as I have damaged both my knees in years past and I feel more balanced if I know what my feet are doing. However when I look up, I can see so much more and my perspective on life does improve.
A lot of us have spiritually damaged ourselves at some time or other, and that can produce a tendency to try to focus on the immediate steps we have to take, in order to try to ensure that the present does not repeat the pains of the past. This usually means that we get a limited perspective on things and can mean that we end up shuffling and dragging our feet. It is not a pretty sight.
As I have tried to walk with my spiritual shoulders a little less hunched, I have found myself seeing again the wider perspective of God’s sovereignty. I have found it difficult not to get just a little excited as I have contemplated – and believed – again that God really does know what He is doing and, moreover that He has the ability to accomplish it.
There is a day coming when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, when death will be no more and sorrow and crying will be finished for good. Christ shall come and His manifest rule will last forever. When I straighten my shoulders and lift up my eyes from the dust and dirt immediately in front of me, I can see that clearly, and it alters my perspective on everything.
With eyes cast down, all I can see of the churches is worldliness and division – the dust and dirt. However, when I raise my eyes I can see, albeit faintly and afar off, the glorious manifestation of the Church as the Bride of Christ. I realise afresh, that it is God who will accomplish it. I cannot do it and indeed it is not my responsibility to try and do it. My task is to believe, give God no rest from that belief, and simply to be obedient in whatever He calls me to.
If God is King of the universe, I think I can safely entrust Him with my two pennyworth of the kingdom.
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