For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes,
His eternal power, and His divine nature,
have been clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made,
so that they are without excuse.
Last Sunday we were asked to jot down our prayer requests and carry them down to the altar so others could pray with us about our needs. Then the pastor added, “Write down your praise for something God has done for you this week and place it here on the altar.” There wasn’t an increase in people going to the altar – and I’m a fine one to be talking because I didn’t go either. But the thoughts began coming about what had just been done and had not been done.
I’m confident that a few people had praises for special healing, financial assistance, restored relationships, and other magnificent miracles. But many just stayed in their little pew pockets thinking, “Well, He hasn’t done anything special for me this week, so I can’t go down. No miracles recorded in my journal.”
Many of the people who followed after Jesus were “miracle seekers”. “I’ve seen Him do it! If I can just get close enough He can heal me, too!” Or, “When He sees my son lying on the cot He will have compassion and heal Him. I know He can!” “I am so excited! What miracles will He do today? Were you there last week when He fed all those people? Magnificent!”
He talked to His disciples; “Yes, the people are following Me, but only because of what I can do for them. They want to see an exciting show. They want release from pain and suffering – relief that will last briefly. I long for them to seek Me for eternal healing. Forever healing. Healing that will change their lives and that can never be taken away. There is so much more to life that I want to give them, but they are fascinated with physical healing.”
Would people in our world today pack the pews if people were being healed? If there were people walking who had never before walked? Blind eyes opened? Oh, yes. Our number would escalate exponentially! But would they come to know Him – the Healer? Would they be followers only because they had “seen” what He could do, hoping He would see them and touch their wounded bodies?
So, I sit there and think I don’t have anything really worth writing down, so I can’t write a praise. Oh, but I do! I do! I can wiggle my little finger! (I would be praying about it if I couldn’t!) I can smell supper cooking! I can see the beauty around me – the flowers, the trees, the sky! I can walk to the mailbox! There is this huge orange ball reflecting light over everything at night and peeking into my bedroom. I hear a bird singing. I see the stars and know that He has a name for every one of them! Unbelievable! The rain and the thunder are yelling out His name. I see His creative genius all around me! And as I look, I know Him because of all He has created – for the just and the unjust! He is loving. He is kind. He is constant. The condition of my body does not determine my relationship with Him. I can be in the hospital, a nursing home, no matter. His love knows no bounds. Oh, I wouldn’t have time to write everything down in just one morning. His invisible attributes. His eternal power. His divine nature. I see them!
If the Heavens were a scroll and the sea an ink well there still would not be room or enough ink to write our praises! [1]
So I wonder – if the Lord were standing down at the altar, His eyes moving slowly around the room, ..waiting for me to think up something to praise Him for, would I go? Better yet – Could I NOT GO??
We love Him because He is God,
because He is the author of all the beauty
and the order around us, the source of our strength
and the hope and courage within us,
and of other people’s strength and hope and courage
with which we are helped in our time of need.
We love Him because He is the best part
of ourselves and of our world. [2]
Yes, we see – and we are without excuse.
[1] Frederick M. Lehman: The Love of God
[2] Harold S. Kushner: When Bad Things Happen to Good People
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