I ask only one thing from the Lord. This is what I want: Let me live in the Lord's house all my life. Let me see the Lord's beauty and look with my own eyes at His Temple. (vs.4)
I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city's temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light and Lamb is the city's lamp....Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will enter the city.....The throne of God and the Lamb will be there, and God's servants will worship Him. THEY WILL SEE HIS FACE AND HIS NAME WILL BE WRITTEN ON THEIR FOREHEADS. Revelation 21,22
Today is a day I have looked forward to since I began this journey into the Psalms. This is my favorite verse in all the songs. Yet, I am now somewhat speechless. How can I say more than David already has?
Here goes. When I think about seeing Christ, the Lamb, and my heavenly Father face to face, I always tear up. I already have people I have loved so dearly on this earth who are looking even now at the face of God. Who worship with the multitudes before a throne shot through with a rainbow of colors, drenched in emerald light, noisy with thunderings and loud praises. Those who now swim in the River of Life and eat from the harvestings of the Tree in the garden there. In worship, I join my voices with theirs, realizing that here is merely a foretaste of there.
I have become a lowly earthly dwelling place for the Spirit of the Lord. A tabernacle in which He lives, imperfectly, I know. But I am always trying to make more room for Him - a brighter dwelling. I want Him to give this sanctuary light. Want Him to be comfortable in this particular tent. "For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy." (Deuteronomy 23) In His moving around in me, this camp He lives in, may He be comfortable. I give Him permission to clean it up.
How, you ask, can you see the beauty of the Lord? You who have not seen His face?
I am glad you asked that. I would like to answer with one-word responses. Mercy. Love. Grace. Peace. Protection. Power. Watch-care. Favor. Compassion. Wisdom. Prescience. Justice. Tenderness. Righteousness. Understanding. Patience. Long-suffering. Gentleness. Provision. Sovereignty. These I see every day. The lovely attributes of my God. Would that I become one who sees them in everything all the time. You see, it the heart of God that is so breathtakingly beautiful - the heart He shares with me. How could He? Why would He? But He has! Beauty is too small a word for that, don't you think? He is transplendent!
I want to live with Him...here and there! The one thing I ask. To know Him now. To see Him then.
Watched the TV show Mobbed while I worked out yesterday. A young man had an online relationship for five years with a young woman he had come to love. They had never physically met. Don't know why. But he got on the show in order to meet her for the first time with a bang! A flash mob, his band singing, an intricate ruse to get her to Hollywood Boulevard and yellow umbrellas symbolizing daffodils. The young man overwhelmed her with his desire to court her further. Her first words when she saw him: "You do exist! You are real!" She had only heard him, never seen him. She knew him. Said he was her best friend. But she had never looked on his face before that moment. All he could say was: "You are so beautiful." But he already knew that. Because he knew the heart of his best friend.
So how do I know He is beautiful. I have heard His voice. I have seen His heart. I don't need to see His face to know that He is more lovely than can be imagined with my little mind. And someday, with joy, I will look upon Him...actually...and I will shout: "You do exist!! You are real! I knew it all along!" And He....He will hold out His arms to me and say: "And you are beautiful."
I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city's temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light and Lamb is the city's lamp....Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will enter the city.....The throne of God and the Lamb will be there, and God's servants will worship Him. THEY WILL SEE HIS FACE AND HIS NAME WILL BE WRITTEN ON THEIR FOREHEADS. Revelation 21,22
Today is a day I have looked forward to since I began this journey into the Psalms. This is my favorite verse in all the songs. Yet, I am now somewhat speechless. How can I say more than David already has?
Here goes. When I think about seeing Christ, the Lamb, and my heavenly Father face to face, I always tear up. I already have people I have loved so dearly on this earth who are looking even now at the face of God. Who worship with the multitudes before a throne shot through with a rainbow of colors, drenched in emerald light, noisy with thunderings and loud praises. Those who now swim in the River of Life and eat from the harvestings of the Tree in the garden there. In worship, I join my voices with theirs, realizing that here is merely a foretaste of there.
I have become a lowly earthly dwelling place for the Spirit of the Lord. A tabernacle in which He lives, imperfectly, I know. But I am always trying to make more room for Him - a brighter dwelling. I want Him to give this sanctuary light. Want Him to be comfortable in this particular tent. "For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy." (Deuteronomy 23) In His moving around in me, this camp He lives in, may He be comfortable. I give Him permission to clean it up.
How, you ask, can you see the beauty of the Lord? You who have not seen His face?
I am glad you asked that. I would like to answer with one-word responses. Mercy. Love. Grace. Peace. Protection. Power. Watch-care. Favor. Compassion. Wisdom. Prescience. Justice. Tenderness. Righteousness. Understanding. Patience. Long-suffering. Gentleness. Provision. Sovereignty. These I see every day. The lovely attributes of my God. Would that I become one who sees them in everything all the time. You see, it the heart of God that is so breathtakingly beautiful - the heart He shares with me. How could He? Why would He? But He has! Beauty is too small a word for that, don't you think? He is transplendent!
I want to live with Him...here and there! The one thing I ask. To know Him now. To see Him then.
Watched the TV show Mobbed while I worked out yesterday. A young man had an online relationship for five years with a young woman he had come to love. They had never physically met. Don't know why. But he got on the show in order to meet her for the first time with a bang! A flash mob, his band singing, an intricate ruse to get her to Hollywood Boulevard and yellow umbrellas symbolizing daffodils. The young man overwhelmed her with his desire to court her further. Her first words when she saw him: "You do exist! You are real!" She had only heard him, never seen him. She knew him. Said he was her best friend. But she had never looked on his face before that moment. All he could say was: "You are so beautiful." But he already knew that. Because he knew the heart of his best friend.
So how do I know He is beautiful. I have heard His voice. I have seen His heart. I don't need to see His face to know that He is more lovely than can be imagined with my little mind. And someday, with joy, I will look upon Him...actually...and I will shout: "You do exist!! You are real! I knew it all along!" And He....He will hold out His arms to me and say: "And you are beautiful."
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