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March 4, 2012
February 1, 2012
Better is One Day
Some of you may recognize this post, as I wrote it two years ago...
The idea of the Lord's "dwelling place" is quite nice, isn't it? I'm sure many of you have heard and sung the contemporary worship song "Better is One Day"...
The church is again and again called by Scripture to keep our minds fixed on the eternity we will spend in the presence of the beautifully glorious Lord Almighty, and so songs like this one and the psalms of David are helpful in directing our hearts towards that end.
But what about God's dwelling place here on earth? What does the Word have to say about the place God chooses to dwell here in the earthly, temporal realm?
But what if those places are really where the beauty and glory of the Lord is to be found? What if God actually does choose the weak things of the world as His dwelling place? What would it mean for little guys like this one...
He has been labeled by the world as worthless- so much so that they have placed him in a brick holding room, where he is never permitted to leave. He has AIDS and an intellectual disability, and is passed small amounts of food through the hole from which this picture was taken. I bet he is indeed hungry and thirsty, feeling naked and like a stranger, is very sick and certainly imprisoned. So what if our responsibility to him is actually the same as our responsibility to Him? What if we actually have to stand before Jesus one day and explain why we left Him sitting in His lonely (and not so lovely) dwelling place? Will we ever get to enjoy the Lord in His heavenly dwelling place if we choose not to join Him in His earthly dwelling place of suffering?
In order that we might not be the ones to whom Jesus says "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," (Matt 25:41) may He give us grace to pray as David did and to continue to sing this song, but perhaps, with a new understanding of that which we are asking. May our eyes be opened, and then fixed, to the beauty and glory of God that is so uniquely displayed in orphans with intellectual disabilities.
*I wrote this for the Special Hope Network blog, which you can find at www.specialhopenetwork.com. It is updated weekly, and explains a lot more about what God has called us to do. Check out the website if you have not yet!
The idea of the Lord's "dwelling place" is quite nice, isn't it? I'm sure many of you have heard and sung the contemporary worship song "Better is One Day"...
"How lovely is Your dwelling place,
oh Lord Almighty
My soul longs and even faints for You.
One thing I ask and I would seek,
to see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells."
Though the song pulls lines from different psalms of David, the idea is consistent- there is beauty and glory to be found in the dwelling place of the Lord. No wonder we claim it would be better to spend a day there than a thousand elsewhere- it sounds like a delightful place to be.
The church is again and again called by Scripture to keep our minds fixed on the eternity we will spend in the presence of the beautifully glorious Lord Almighty, and so songs like this one and the psalms of David are helpful in directing our hearts towards that end.
But what about God's dwelling place here on earth? What does the Word have to say about the place God chooses to dwell here in the earthly, temporal realm?
A father of the fatherless and judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. Psalm 68:5It seems there is a long list of verses that agree with this one- that God consistently chooses His dwelling place to be with those who are weak and afflicted. Jesus, Himself, is clear about this in Matthew 25-
"Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to Me."Here, Jesus does not simply claim to dwell with the hungry, thirsty, strange, naked, sick, and imprisoned- He claims to BE them. By reading this passage, God's chosen dwelling place on this earth is made very clear- the adjectives used to describe it, however, are not as lovely-sounding. I'm not sure my heart and flesh would so easily long for such a place, and I really don't know that I would choose to spend a day in any of those circumstances. Certainly not when my current dwelling place allows me to be satiated, familiar, clothed, healthy, and free.
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?"
And the King will answer and say to them "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."
But what if those places are really where the beauty and glory of the Lord is to be found? What if God actually does choose the weak things of the world as His dwelling place? What would it mean for little guys like this one...
He has been labeled by the world as worthless- so much so that they have placed him in a brick holding room, where he is never permitted to leave. He has AIDS and an intellectual disability, and is passed small amounts of food through the hole from which this picture was taken. I bet he is indeed hungry and thirsty, feeling naked and like a stranger, is very sick and certainly imprisoned. So what if our responsibility to him is actually the same as our responsibility to Him? What if we actually have to stand before Jesus one day and explain why we left Him sitting in His lonely (and not so lovely) dwelling place? Will we ever get to enjoy the Lord in His heavenly dwelling place if we choose not to join Him in His earthly dwelling place of suffering?
In order that we might not be the ones to whom Jesus says "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," (Matt 25:41) may He give us grace to pray as David did and to continue to sing this song, but perhaps, with a new understanding of that which we are asking. May our eyes be opened, and then fixed, to the beauty and glory of God that is so uniquely displayed in orphans with intellectual disabilities.
*I wrote this for the Special Hope Network blog, which you can find at www.specialhopenetwork.com. It is updated weekly, and explains a lot more about what God has called us to do. Check out the website if you have not yet!
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