How do I get God’s attention? Sometimes it seems like I’m in a busy, but understaffed store, desperately needing help, and the only one available is occupied with someone else. If God is really God, He sees and knows everything of course. But often in the gospels, Jesus would key in on one person out of a large group. I’ve always wanted to be that person and at times I need to be that person. Short Zacchaeus was quietly watching Jesus from his perch in the tree when Jesus called out to him. Blind Bartimaeus was shouting for mercy and wouldn’t be quiet until Jesus came to him. The bleeding woman intentionally touched Him and was noticed while the remainder of the crushing crowd remained in the background.
What have you tried? If you’re honest and a believer, you’ll have to admit that you’ve wanted, at least for a moment, to be that one who had God’s full attention. I’ve tried being zealous—going to the end of my strength to work, serve, obey, worship, fast, evangelize, and pray. All those things are godly and good when done in the spirit, but are not helpful when done religiously to try to force the Lord to notice how worthy I am of His attention.
I was reading in the book of Exodus the other day. This is one of the sections I re-read often because it seems that something important is escaping my attention. I noticed a phrase that I had read over many times without taking it in. Moses was minding his own business, caring for his father-in-law’s flocks. Then he saw the burning bush, and said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight…” Now a curious phrase: “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him…” This seems strangely human to me. It’s arrogant to assume God is like me, but wise to remember that we are made in the image of God. There are still fingerprints of God on all of us in spite of all we do to eradicate them. God doing something really special for Moses and then waiting for his response reminds me of when I try to do something nice for my wife, or she for me. There is that moment of anticipation—will she notice? Will she smile as she stops her work? Will she take a moment and enjoy what I’ve done especially for her? And after she “turns aside,” or I do, the bonds of love grow stronger as we each give and receive.
I wonder. Is getting God’s attention as simple as letting Him get my attention? Moses was busy with duties and stopped to look. Zacchaeus was too short to see over those in the front of the line, but climbed a tree to watch. Bartimaeus was blind, but when he heard Jesus was passing by, he “saw” grace coming towards him. The woman had looked to doctors to help her without avail, but perceived a walking miracle and stopped to wait in the crowd. Were Moses, Zacchaeus, Bartimaeus, and the woman different only because they stopped what they were doing—turned aside from focusing on duties, doubts, disabilities, or disease—to respond to God and to take a moment to pay attention? Perhaps I’ve had God’s attention all along, but He hasn’t had mine.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Imagine. Your house is on fire. You’ve checked. Everyone is safe. As you leave, you have time to grab one thing on your way out. Everything else will be lost. What will you take? Your laptop with all your records? The photo album that captured the best family memories? Your life savings, brought home simply to be transferred to another bank the next day? The cup hand painted by your grandmother? What will you take?
Your priorities are not what you say; your priorities are what you do. Every action that you make precludes everything else for that moment except for the minor multi-tasking that is humanly possible. Perhaps you can safely talk on the phone as you drive, or listen to two conversations at once, but our abilities don’t go far beyond doing very simple tasks simultaneously. You can’t have two best friends, two favorite foods, or two first priorities. And you can’t legitimately claim to put God first if you don’t give yourself to knowing what He says and wholeheartedly making His priorities your priorities.
What is most important to God? Assuming I have made the initial decision to begin my walk with Jesus, what should I do next? Out of all the practical admonitions, what should I put first on my “to do” list? In the goals that define my character, what should be first? And what is the most important thing to ask God to give me? Believing that wisdom, grace, and ability comes from God, it seems wisest to begin with prayer, to ask before I try to do. Let's listen in as David speaks to God about what is most important to him:
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: …”
What did you ask for, David? Was it forgiveness? Eternal life? The ability to be faithful and productive? Children that walked with God? To be remembered as a righteous man? Wisdom, like your son, Solomon? No, none of these things!
“…that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalms 27:4)
What does it mean to dwell, to live in the house of the Lord? To David, certainly, this would have to do with living within the place and ways that God instituted for His people, Israel, to worship and serve Him, not just as individuals, but as a people. For us, the house of the Lord is no longer a place, but a people made by God to be His temple, His Church. His Church is called "the fullness of Him Who fills all in all" in Ephesians. For me, to dwell in the house of the Lord must mean, in the New Testament metaphor, to be joined with other "stones" in building a living temple for the Lord, the "place" in which God is worshiped and where He most fully makes His home on earth. And these stones do not just together build the temple. They hold one another in place because they are side by side, one over another, with no room between. There are no mortar joints between the Lord's stones. God's people keep me in God's presence even when, in weakness, I would draw away. Their closeness gives me no room to move from Him.
It's God that I yearn for and desperately need. But the Lord has made it so that a part of what I seek of Him can only be found by being inexorably joined with others of like heart. The question is do I want Him enough to be permanently, inseparably conjoined with others that God chooses? Will I make it my priority prayer, like David, to dwell in the house of the Lord, not just on Sundays, but all the days of my life? If this is the one thing that I could take with me as I flee from the fire, is this what I would choose? Or will I settle for something good instead of what is priceless?
What is your "one thing?"
Your priorities are not what you say; your priorities are what you do. Every action that you make precludes everything else for that moment except for the minor multi-tasking that is humanly possible. Perhaps you can safely talk on the phone as you drive, or listen to two conversations at once, but our abilities don’t go far beyond doing very simple tasks simultaneously. You can’t have two best friends, two favorite foods, or two first priorities. And you can’t legitimately claim to put God first if you don’t give yourself to knowing what He says and wholeheartedly making His priorities your priorities.
What is most important to God? Assuming I have made the initial decision to begin my walk with Jesus, what should I do next? Out of all the practical admonitions, what should I put first on my “to do” list? In the goals that define my character, what should be first? And what is the most important thing to ask God to give me? Believing that wisdom, grace, and ability comes from God, it seems wisest to begin with prayer, to ask before I try to do. Let's listen in as David speaks to God about what is most important to him:
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: …”
What did you ask for, David? Was it forgiveness? Eternal life? The ability to be faithful and productive? Children that walked with God? To be remembered as a righteous man? Wisdom, like your son, Solomon? No, none of these things!
“…that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalms 27:4)
What does it mean to dwell, to live in the house of the Lord? To David, certainly, this would have to do with living within the place and ways that God instituted for His people, Israel, to worship and serve Him, not just as individuals, but as a people. For us, the house of the Lord is no longer a place, but a people made by God to be His temple, His Church. His Church is called "the fullness of Him Who fills all in all" in Ephesians. For me, to dwell in the house of the Lord must mean, in the New Testament metaphor, to be joined with other "stones" in building a living temple for the Lord, the "place" in which God is worshiped and where He most fully makes His home on earth. And these stones do not just together build the temple. They hold one another in place because they are side by side, one over another, with no room between. There are no mortar joints between the Lord's stones. God's people keep me in God's presence even when, in weakness, I would draw away. Their closeness gives me no room to move from Him.
It's God that I yearn for and desperately need. But the Lord has made it so that a part of what I seek of Him can only be found by being inexorably joined with others of like heart. The question is do I want Him enough to be permanently, inseparably conjoined with others that God chooses? Will I make it my priority prayer, like David, to dwell in the house of the Lord, not just on Sundays, but all the days of my life? If this is the one thing that I could take with me as I flee from the fire, is this what I would choose? Or will I settle for something good instead of what is priceless?
What is your "one thing?"
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