04/15/2019
Do you open yourself up to God? Do you allow Him free access to not only your actions and superficial thinking, but to those thoughts that you believe to be personal and secret? Do you interact with God by revealing every intimate confidence to Him? When we lift ourselves up to Him we are changing the relationship we experience together; not on His part, but on ours. At the moment we lift ourselves up to Him we are acknowledging our trust in Him, and giving everything we are to Him freely.
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”
Psalms 25:1 ESV
In my youth knew a couple of neighborhood girls, and they would go into a large field of tall grass near our homes and trample down some squares which they pretended were rooms in a house. They brought their dolls there and played for hours as if they were a family. One day I was nearby, and when they came out of the grass and saw me they were mortified. Immediately they asked me if I had heard what they were saying! Even though I hadn’t, I seized the opportunity and said I had. Both of them screamed in a shrill voice and were so embarrassed. Then, as the days went by, and they saw that I didn’t reveal their secret, they began to treat me differently; they treated me like a close friend. I was brought into their confidence, and became a part of their tight friendship. I never knew their secret but they believed I did, and it changed our relationship.
God is omnipotent and omnipresent, and He knows our deepest thoughts because our spirits reveal them to Him. So when we lift up our souls to Him we are not telling Him anything He doesn’t already know... we are just allowing ourselves to admit this reality, and in so doing we yield our inner selves totally to Him. Like with the girls in the field, and the secret conversation they believed I heard, had changed our relationship, when we reveal our intimate thoughts freely to God it changes our relationship with Him too.
“And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:27 ESV
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
I don’t know where those two girls are today, but if I ever meet them again I want to tell them the truth about that day in the field. I also want them to understand that I never told them I hadn’t heard because it would possibly have meant losing the friendship they had included me in... and that it had been precious to me.
“Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.”
Psalms 28:9 KJV
The wonderful thing about God is that He truly does know us; it isn’t a farce. When we lift ourselves up to Him it is by admitting He already knows us, and allows us to openly discuss those things with Him. We can talk about embarrassing things, intimate things, hurtful things, and so much more. In this relationship, and through these conversations, He can teach us and forgive us. It is a life changer, and a closeness with Him that doesn’t occur because He has come to know us, but because we have come to know Him.
If you have children then you sometimes know when they have misbehaved, but you don’t openly admit it to them. In times like this you wait for them to come to you and open themselves up to you... to tell you of their own volition what you already know. At moments such as this your relationship with them grows, and the pleasure you take in seeing their character warms you. When a child lifts themselves up to you in this manner you will typically tell them that you already knew what they had done, and by that revelation your relationship with them is changed, because it demonstrates the depth of your love for them, and allows them to trust you more. Lifting ourselves up to God doesn’t change Him, or what He already knows about us... it changes us, and How we interact with Him from that moment forward. In such a moment we see the truth of God’s understanding for the first time, and how good, loving, trustworthy, and patient, He is.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Isaiah 30:18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your patience in waiting for me to lift myself up to you, and for me to give you my innermost thoughts and being. I am overcome Lord by the depth at which you know me, and by my lack of understanding that what I held as secrets from you were not secrets at all. You wait for me Holy Father, and listen to my heart as I wrestle within myself as to whether I will allow myself to be yours. I come to grips with revealing to you my most embarrassing thoughts and sins, and yet in truth you already know them. Help us Merciful Father to understand that we only fool ourselves by thinking you don’t know who we are, and the things we think and do. You love us even in the midst of our sins, and wait patiently for us to overcome our reluctance to bring them before you in contrition. Open our eyes Lord so that we can see you standing in the midst of our darkest moments, and by so doing approach you with remorse, and change the person we are. Shine your light into us Gracious God, and let us see that there is no corner that can hide from you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who knows all that we are, and lovingly awaits us to understand that there is no sin or misbehavior that goes unnoticed. Praised be your name Father and the grace you await to shower upon us. All glory is yours Lord as we open our eyes to your love, and patient Spirit.
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
Psalms 139:1-4 ESV
Rich Forbes