The God Who Sees

The most recognized quote attributed to Andy Warhol is "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." Or something to that effect. Sadly, and quite ominously, I think, right now, we are only scratching the surface of what that fifteen minutes will look like. Our world is smaller through technology, and fame is more easily attained in that sense. The bar has been lowered as to what counts for being worthy of worldwide acclaim. Humanity is less averse to doing stupid or nefarious things to gain that recognition. And our attention spans are notably shorter. 

Isn't being seen important to who we are, though? From the womb, we seek to be attended to; some studies have shown that the cry of a child is perfectly tuned to some pitch or frequency that will provoke Mother to action. Some children naturally "perform" when told they are having their picture taken. From athletes to academics, we reward excellence with trophies and inductions and scholarships. At the very least, we depend on those who call us "friend" or "brother" to notice when something has gone a little off kilter with us in hopes they will help us in remediation. Not until Adam gives his wife a name do we learn his name (Gen. 3:20). Our identity depends on the presence of another.

El Roi, is the name of God with which we are first presented in Genesis 16:13:

Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

The God Who sees. I'd heard the name years ago, and it always brought a special feeling of comfort to me each time I thought of it. I am not alone. God sees the pain in my heart. God recognizes my need. But where was the response? Where was Mother, swooping in to comfort me or the scholarship committee to reward me for my endurance in adversity? The name gave me hope, but response did not seem to be an immediate reality. 

God's notice of us is eternal, and with that, it has an eternal perspective. Like the mother who sees her baby struggling to roll over --grunting, fists balled, face red --and she does nothing; Baby must figure this out on his own. Or the scholarship awarded to another deserving recipient --a high school senior --when the remaining applicants are still in their junior year. When the brother or sister does not overtly come alongside us in our struggle, but prays, fasts, and quietly creates opportunities for transformation to occur. It is not that we are not seen, but there is much more at stake than instant relief or gratification. God is working in those He loves something much more eternal, of greater quality. As in the account of Hagar, when she encounters El Roi, she is not told her cruel mistress will be dealt with. The Angel of the Lord does not tell this poor slave girl (and pawn in Sarai and Abram's rebellious scheme) that she has every right to flee and He will protect her. He says instead, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand (Gen. 16:9). Return. Return to your current, difficult situation. Return to the place where I see you, but you are going to have to trust Me. Return to a place of submission to your mistress, yes, but submission, most of all to My plan, My timing. Return to a place of waiting and trust that I see you. God's promise to Hagar is for the future. Eternal notice; future response.

Look at where all of this "struggling to be seen" has gotten us. Look at the foolishness that is celebrated; the flurry of opinion, debate, vitriol, discontent, threats, and out-and-out brain rot that floods our devices by the second. This is man's effort to be relevant, to be noticed, to be "somebody." But our Creator God, the One who longs to call us "sons and daughters" and has made a way through Jesus Christ that it might be so, He sees us! He is El Roi! How much greater is that than chasing clicks on social media, or forever being known in pop culture as "Catch Me Outside Girl", or dying from a butterfly injection? God's response may not be visible, it may not be immediate, it may not be in accordance with human logic (thankfully!), but it is trustworthy. He is not cruel toward His children or inattentive. For those whose identity is in Christ Jesus, we are seen by the only One whose perfect estimation really counts, who will never slumber or sleep, and will do all He has promised. His vision is without defect. 

Ready for a Name That Fits?

Years ago, everyone from funeral homes to auto repair shops were giving out pens, matchbooks, calendars --whatever would keep the name of their business stuck to your refrigerator and foremost in your mind. Names are important. And men are particularly good at naming folks. Brutally honest, really. Fat Joey and The Neck are a few that come to mind from my days leading a group of terrific but unconventional men on a ground support crew. Sometimes it's pretty obvious how we've gotten our name or nickname --my friend born in December is Holly. Other monickers are not so apparent. Take John the Baptist, for instance.

Why was John the Baptist called "the baptist;" not "the preparer" or "revealer" (Isaiah 40:3-5)? Could he not have been called "the herald" (Luke 1:13-17)? What was it about his ministry of baptism that identified him above everything else he did? Might it have been what he didn't do as well as what he did do?

Look at John 1:26-33. In just these few verses, God through John (another John, the apostle) points out three times that John the Baptist "baptized with water." Safe to assume, there must be some distinction worth noticing. 

In the Old Testament, God gave His people the practice of immersion. A ceremonial cleansing took place, usually, at a location in which water flowed naturally, a mikveh. Immersion in this special place or pool of water symbolized purification, consecration, and spiritual cleansing. For converts to Israelite faith, the immersion marked a turning away from old practices and entry into the community; a decision to live in right standing before God and His people in covenant relationship. Likewise, the baptism offered by John the Baptist was representative of one's turn from sin toward a new life of righteousness. But in preparation for the Messiah's arrival. This wasn't the same old Wash.Rinse.Repeat. (Pun absolutely intentional!) John heralded the coming of a Greater Sacrifice. No more would Isreal have to live under the burden of slaughtered animals and the shedding of blood. An All-Sufficient Mediator and High Priest would come to atone for all sin. There was to be a better way, the Way of Life, rather than the ritual way of perpetual death that had been Judaism's only hope for forgiveness. People believed John the Baptist's words, they longed to prepare through repentance their hearts and their lives for the Messiah's coming, and they waded into the water to begin new life in hope. Immersion, or baptism (from baptizo in the Greek), a familiar tradition to the people of Israel was now, at the hands of John the Baptist, a belief in Who was to come, the One who could do what all the bathing could not, the One who could cleanse them and cleanse us from all sin. This was about rebirth, the severing of oneself from the former, walking toward the new, and trusting the coming Messiah was its source.

Yes, John the Baptist prepared the people by bringing the message of Jesus. Yes, he revealed the truth of ages-old prophecies and their fulfillment in Jesus. Yes, he was herald to a king --The King of kings. But his role as a baptizer made him the catalyst for transformation. His role as baptizer made him the link between the Old Testament and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. His role as baptizer presented all those who would with the opportunity to publicly fix their eyes on their Savior, follow His law, and receive His gift of forgiveness and newness of life when the time had come. John the Baptist did not change hearts, but he spoke to them the message he was called to deliver, and when they responded, he celebrated at the waters with them. 

Baptism remains the God-given testament of rebirth in the life of every believer. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19, instructs us --all believers! --to go into the world and baptize others as a symbol of their repentance and acceptance of the lordship of Jesus. Are you ready to make disciples? Are you ready for a new name?

Midweek: Step Eleven

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

~ Daniel 6:10

Long story short, Daniel had enemies. And they were trying to get him busted by the king. So, Daniel's enemies convinced the king to sign a decree prohibiting petition to any other authority but the king himself; that, of course, included prayer to God. Daniel clearly knew of the decree, but he would not allow that to stop him from praying to the One True God. Prayer was to him as eating is to us --three times daily (not including snacks). It was his sustenance and, for optimal health, should be ours as well. 

That's what Step Eleven says. From Walking the Twelve Steps with Jesus Christ:

I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him, praying only for His will for me and the power to carry it out.

By improving our conscious contact with God throughout the day, we find the meat, the nutrients, the sustenance, the rest we require to handle life in the best possible way; in the way in which we were created to handle life.

We developed some bad habits. We sought to "do life" in a way other than the way our Owner's Manual (the Holy Bible) recommended. (And, I say "recommended" not because there is a better or equally efficient way, but because we choose; God admonishes, but we choose.) Connecting to God through prayer and meditation throughout the day, seeking His will as revealed in Scripture and through His Holy Spirit's intervention, receiving the power to obey --that is how we shed those old patterns of coping, and develop the ones we were always meant to use; the optimal means of doing life in this world, bringing glory to our Lord and remaining under His grace.

Grace is the very thing that empowers us to obey. Grace is often defined as "unmerited favor," and that is true. But what does that mean, and how do we respond? Well, if you think of it as God giving you what you don't deserve, what you have not earned, you might respond with gratitude. That gratitude might then lead you to want to obey, to do something "in return" for God's grace on your life. None of that is wrong. But when we're talking about lifelong patterns of bad or insufficient behaviors, things we have implemented our entire life to numb the pain or avoid confrontation or, perhaps, draw attention to ourselves that someone might rescue us from our own bad choices --when we're talking about those sorts of things, grace as I've defined it above can appear inadequate. Dallas Willard defined grace as God working in our lives to do what we cannot do on our own. That was a game changer for me. There is strength in that. There is assurance in that. God's grace is not simply pouring out favor in the form of a beautiful sunset or a smile from our grandchild; it is not only a sudden healing that leaves us feeling blessed and overwhelmingly appreciative. It is "When I don't have the strength to obey, You fortify me as I draw close to You." God's grace is mighty, mighty, mighty! The power to carry it out. Yes, it is intimate; yes, it is special. But God's grace is fashioned especially for each one of His children, specific to our needs and greater than we can imagine. As we pray and meditate on Scripture, we move ourselves into position to feel His presence, hear His voice, and receive His grace. Like stepping under the porch roof to get out of the rain, we draw near to Him and are safe from the torrents and temptations of life in a fallen world. Scripture reveals a new path, the right path; prayer connects us to the One who loves us beyond measure and will walk each step beside us, empowering us by His grace. 

What You See Is What You Get

One of the first things I noticed about our youngest was his incredible imagination: he can develop a story like no other! In his tales, the impossible becomes possible, the unbelievable becomes believable, and the unlikely becomes almost anticipated. It is a blessed gift to have childlike wonder residing right here in our home!

Annie Dillard, in her thoughtful narrative, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, hits on this childishness in a way that causes me to crave that innocence in myself again:   

When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I’ve never been seized by it since. For some reason, I always “hid” the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and, starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions.

After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY. I was greatly excited, during all this arrow-drawing, at the thought of the first lucky passer-by who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe. But I never lurked about. I would go straight home and not give the matter another thought, until, some months later, I would be gripped again by the impulse to hide another penny.

The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But — and this is the point — who gets excited by a mere penny?

...if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.

And isn't that just the truth of it? What you are willing to see is what you get. I once heard someone say, Those who place everything in God's hand will see God's hand in everything. What keeps us seeing the goodness of God in the everyday and the mundane, or catching our breath at the same Autumn colors bedecking the same tree in our same backyard every year; what keeps us seeing the newness of the spouse God has given us or the places He has called us to live for forty-seven of our fifty years; what keeps us grateful is seeing, and what keeps us seeing is poverty. The willingness to acknowledge there are things much greater than us and our full schedules. The willingness to remain small and poor and humble, and to know that God is big and rich and glorious. The willingness to see that the life He has granted you is a life given to no other human being on earth; the sunsets you have watched, the smiles you've returned, the last moments of a faithful and furry friend you have been permitted, the first cries you have heard --they have all been for you and you alone. Given you by a God who is writing your story as carefully as you wrapped that shawl around the shoulders of the sister with cancer. Gently, tenderly, and sometimes intensely with loving correction in mind, God has fashioned this life for you and each morning presented you with the mercies and opportunities you require for the day. Your life is as unique as you are, and perfect for you. 

Let us, with the wonder and innocence of trusting children, see all You have crafted for us, and never be ungrateful again.