11/14/2025
If you were to look around right now would you see God in everything around you? Could you look at the items in the room, or the trees in your backyard and say “God, how magnificent you are!”, or would you struggle to find Him? Seeing God in every aspect of our life, and in every scene, thing, or occurrence that makes up our lives, requires spiritual training, and a circumcised heart. How sensitive is our spiritual radar?
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Colossians 1:16-17 KJV
Every day we are surrounded by God and the evidence of His existence. How could we possibly not see Him; after all He created everything we know... everything that is beautiful or ugly, cuddly or repulsive, colorful or mundane, sweet or poisonous, loving or vicious, they are all the work of His hand. Their interaction with each other, and us, were determined before His Word was spoken that created them, and it was all done in preparation for our arrival, and ultimately for the good of those who love Him.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 ESV
If we don’t see Him as we should then perhaps our eyes are not adjusted to His light or perhaps we have simply become numb to His presence and His hand in our lives. Are we walking through life looking at the handiwork of man and praising what he has done while overlooking the glorious nature of all God has created and done to make this possible? Do we take pride in our own intelligence or creative ability and think it is ours alone, something we deserve, or a natural occurrence of some lucky combination of genes? Does it scare us to realize that we aren’t in total control? Or do we think about why we are, and who we are, at all?
“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Ephesians 4:6 KJV
I can’t tell you how many times I am told by someone who reads my poetry or writing that they wish they could see God in all the things and circumstances of their lives like I do in mine... the truth is... they can, and they should. We have become so conditioned by reality, and I mean this to be the real world we live in as opposed to the spiritual one that requires faith, that we forget we are creatures that stand with one foot on solid ground, and the other in Heaven. We forget that the real world we see, and even the eyes with which we see it, have been given to us by the very spiritual God that we have grown to ignore. Pastor Oswald Chambers says it like this...
“We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the culture of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never allow that the haphazard is anything less than God’s appointed order, and be ready to discover the Divine designs anywhere.” - Oswald Chambers
When we revitalize the spiritual side of ourselves and we become conscious of our spirituality, we suddenly realize that the hard and firm reality of the world, that we once treated as our all in all, is just a tiny leaf floating on a sea of spiritual enormity. It is poised there precariously by surface tension and with the least jostle it will sink into the depths. In a moment it could be broken down into its basic elements and reabsorbed by God.
“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
Colossians 1:17-18 KJV
I am not saying this to make our lives seem insignificant, but rather to open us up to the enormity of the gift that God has given us in this creation, and to His purpose in our lives. I say this so that each one of us will become aware of the fact that what we might have thought of as being totally separate from the spiritual God who created us is actually of Him and indeed like the clouds are to rain, and the rain is to the sea.
Let’s look again at the room and world around us... what do we see? Can we see God now? Maybe we need to walk a few steps further before we will be able run to Him; maybe we need to begin our awakening by seeing God in the precious things about us before we can see Him in everything. I invite you to read this poem I wrote about the birth of my first grandchild, aren’t our children dear and precious things in our lives? And then imagine something else that is just as sweet and Heavenly in yours.
A Glimpse of Heaven
By Rich Forbes – 7/7/2005
I caught a glimpse of heaven
In her newborn eyes
Held her gently to me
Tiny little sighs
Skin as smooth as satin
Soft against my cheek
Little brown eyes open
Just to take a peek
Sudden jerk like falling
Granddad holds her tight
Shhhh, my little angel
You’re safe with me tonight
If time were to stop
At a moment such as this
I’d swear I was in heaven
Sweet smell, a cheek to kiss
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my earthly body and the gift of life you have breathed into it, and for all of creation that you brought into existence so that you might place me in its midst. I thank you for the complexity of what is real, and the awesome vaporous enormity of what is spiritual. Father, I thank you most for the realization of You in all and every thing that surrounds me. How great are you Holy Father, and how wonderful is your endless love for me. I walk each day with Jesus and He teaches me, not about the divide between heaven and earth, but about how there is no divide at all. He teaches me that what I once considered to be the echo of your voice in creation is not an echo at all but the sound of your unending Word that has never ceased nor lessened in its intensity. Your Word is just as alive today as it was when you first began to speak. You are in everything I see, feel, smell, hear, and sense. You are the beauty of the sunrise, the fear in the storm, the dread in growing old, the wonder in the eyes of a child, and the hope I have in the return of the setting sun. Nothing passes that is not real in your Word and in your glorious love and grace for which I praise your name. Holy Father, I give thanks to you for your ongoing creation. And for your mercy, grace, and forgiveness as I adore and humble myself before you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you who exults over me in the midst of your creation with loud singing by day and whispered lullabies in the night. Praised be your name Abba, now and forevermore!
“On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3:16-17 ESV
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen!!
Rich Forbes