06/12/2024
Today I am basing my devotional on something that Pastor E.M. Bounds referred to as "A Chain of Graces" and how prayer is an integral part of this chain. The scripture we are studying is Romans 3:5, and regarding this verse Pastor Bounds writes: "Prayer brings us into that state of grace where suffering cannot only be endured, but where there is a spirit of rejoicing over it." He goes on to say "It is in the furnace that faith is tested, patience is tried, and where all those rich virtues are developed that make up Christian character." I hope you love these comments as much as I do. But what I want to talk about today is how life leaves its physical as well as spiritual marks on us as we age, and the difference between the marks of the world, and those left by God, and Jesus Christ.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5 ESV
There was a hyperrealist artist named Giacomo Burarttini who drew pencil and charcoal drawings of people's faces. The interesting thing about artists such as this is how they select the imperfect faces that life has left its mark upon. We refer to faces like this as interesting, weathered, aged, or scarred by sorrow, but in all cases they reveal the character of the person. Life has a way of leaving its mark on us but through prayer and the hand of God those marks of character will reveal God's grace and peace.
Our faces may be wrinkled, but the eyes reveal God's presence and the wrinkles turn up on end to mark a certain joy. There is an age old saying "The eyes are the windows of the soul." and Jesus speaks of this in scripture:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Matthew 6:22-23 ESV
So we each will face the trials of life, and when we begin our journey through these hardships, we must choose between facing them alone, or transforming them into a chain of graces through our faith and prayer. Regardless of our choice, they will leave their marks on us physically and spiritually. After you have been marked by tribulation, what will your eyes reveal? Will they be hollow and sad, or reveal the peace that Jesus fills us with? Will the wrinkles on your face tell a story of defeat, or one of joy?
Prayer is the invitation for God to fill our souls with His presence. It is our call for assistance in times of affliction and pain. But, it is also a request for God to leave his mark on us physically and spiritually. It is a cry for hope and love that emanates from deep within.
I had a pastor emeritus (Pastor L.H. Hardwick) who was marked by age, but he was also marked by God. Every time I looked into his eyes I could see the peace that God had left there... I saw the love that was so much a part of him... A gentleness of spirit. The wrinkles on his face were both gentle and loving, and they told of a life formed by facing into the glory of God.
The next time you are in church, take a good look at the elderly faces in your congregation. Life will have most certainly marked them, but Jesus will have left His mark there too. When you look into their eyes... what is revealed to you as their soul looks back? Then, when you are praying through your troubles, ask God to leave His mark on your face and soul for others to see... ask Him to help you see the world as He does, and ask that when the world looks into your eyes it will see Him there.
Take a few minutes to visit the pencil and charcoal art of Giacomo Burarttini at the following site:
https://www.designstack.co/2017/09/pencils-and-charcoal-portraits-of.html#google_vignette
Then look at each face around you and ask yourself what you see there. Follow this by praying that when people look at your soul through your eyes, and see the wrinkles on your face, that they will see more than a hard and sorrowful life… they will see the Lord’s artwork there.
Rich Forbes
Prayer:
Father, thank you for all the events we face in our lives and for the impact they have on our bodies and faces. Thank you Lord for the many hardships we endure, and the pains we suffer, but thank you most for allowing us to face them with you, and to find your peace in the midst of our most difficult times. This is the peace that finds a home in our soul, and we thank you for not only giving it to us, but for allowing us to share it with the world as others see it manifest through the windows of our eyes, and the lines on our faces. Your goodness, kindness, and loving countenance is what we desire to portray to the world around us; a world that marks people in a much different way with great sorrow, hard heartedness, anger, and bitterness. Help us father to come to you in unending prayer, and to find there that the wrinkles of our own hard lives, and of our many troubles, have been softened by your peace, joy, and love. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who blesses us with the reflection of your character for all to see. Merciful and kind are you, and as we do your will we too show these virtues in our lives and on our faces. Age and many trials, might bend and twist our bodies, and the storms might weather our faces, and hands, but the lines that you have left upon our faces, and souls, tell a story of gentleness, humility, peace, and joy. We thank you for the answers to our prayers Father, but we thank you more for being able to walk with you in those prayers, and the grace we receive as they are prayed and transform us. We pray today that others will look at our faces, and into our eyes at our souls, and see the gentleness and goodness you have you have left there. We will praise you for the wrinkles that are testament of lives we have lived with you, and glorify you for the radiance of our souls that reflect your presence. .
Amen!
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
And…
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16
Rich Forbes