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A Sight to Behold

Writer's picture: Debbie CorumDebbie Corum

 

New Year’s resolutions. As needful as they may be, they have been known to turn on me when I fail to follow through. I start off, resolved in my heart to read the entire Bible in a year. A doable aim for many. But for me, by March I’ve read too far, not far enough, followed too many bunny trails, fallen down gopher holes, and now I’m way off schedule and feeling discombobulated.

I set my goal to seek God more and pray more than the year prior. But somehow the devil manages to finagle his way in with accusations regarding how I keep missing the mark. As you can imagine, my ultimate goal of intimacy with the One I love suffers until I gain victory.

And all the while, God whispers to my heart, “Behold Me, Behold Me . . .”[i]

It’s the gospel message of grace. My relationship with Him began with that same God-initiated invite to behold Him in the face of Jesus. Before that, I wasn’t even aware He was around! [ii] So I looked. And there He was, a wondrous sight to behold. I had found Him. He made sure of it.

That glimpse stirred something deep within. “Here I am. Behold Me.” So, I looked again. He was still there! One beholding beget another, and another, and here I am over four decades later, still beholding Him. He’s been there every time.

I’ve come to realize that beholding Him is not a casual glance when I happen to notice He’s around. It’s a work of grace that empowers us to fasten an intentional, I-must-see-you! gaze on Him no matter what the situation. Beholding surpasses those unique mountaintop experiences when we get to bask in the manifest light of His countenance.[iii] It’s more than “good” days when favorable winds blow, and life’s puzzle pieces fit nicely into place.

Winds change. Dark clouds roll in and life can turn on us. Balmy breezes turn to gale winds that lash out at us from all directions. The tempest screams out that He’s nowhere to be found. But God dwells in dark clouds.[iv] He desires that we find Him even there. Here I am. Behold Me.

Shakings erupt from out of nowhere. They whip up tsunami waves that mercilessly crash down on us. We batten down the hatches; we bale water because our very lives depend on it. But our best efforts are no match for their violence. Like the disciples, we cry out because we are most assuredly going under. Here I am. Behold Me. He’s in the boat with us. He rules over the surging sea. When its waves mount up, He stills them [v]

God wants us to find that He really is with us. Always. Just as He promised.[vi] Isn’t that what we live for? Emmanuel, God with us?[vii] 

If we’ve been thrown to the lions because of jealousy, as was Daniel’s case, and we stand there defenseless while they circle us, licking their chops because we are tonight’s supper, Here I am. Behold Me. God is right there with us. He shuts the mouths of lions![viii]

Or like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are tossed into a fiery furnace because we won’t compromise our walk with Christ. White-hot flames crackle and spit all around us. They threaten to reduce us to charred stubs. Here I am. Behold Me. He’s that fourth man with us in the fire. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned; the flames will not consume you.[ix]

What about when accusations fly and we, like Paul, are left to defend ourselves? No one empathized with us or rallied around us for support. All forsook us, so the pain of betrayal threatens to overwhelm us. Here I am. Behold Me. He will never leave us or forsake us. He stands at our side and gives us strength.[x] 

When God refines and matures us through trials, and our bread is adversity and our water affliction because we can’t figure out the way forward, Here I am. Behold Me. Our Teacher will not hide Himself anymore. Your eyes will constantly behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you saying, This is the road! Now follow it.[xi]

If we don’t behold Him along the way as we make this oftentimes difficult pilgrimage of faith, our pain and trials are for nothing. That’s why I’ve converted my New Year’s resolutions into a prayer:

 

God, fulfil Your heart’s desire that we behold You in the face of Your Son. Fulfill Your Son’s desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.”[xii]

We ask for grace to behold You in the pages of Your Word, in our times alone with You, and in the beauty and severity of Your vast creation. Help us to find You as our refuge in tempest winds, our Savior who rules stormy seas, our angel that shuts the mouths of lions. Help us to behold You as the fourth man in the fire, our defender against voices of accusation, and our Teacher who leads us in the way we should go.

Lord, we want to behold You right here, right now, in the middle of our struggles and in the midst of our pain because You are absolutely and unequivocally everywhere and in everything![xiii] In Jesus’ name.


Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

 


[i] Isaiah 65:1

[ii] 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 14:9

[iii] Matthew 17:1–2; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Isaiah 65:1

[iv] 1 Kings 8:12

[v] Matthew 8:23–27

[vi] Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:8

[vii] Matthew 1:23

[viii] Daniel 6:21–22

[ix] Daniel 3:14–26; Isaiah 43:2

[x] Hebrews 13:5; 2 Timothy 4:16–18

[xi] Isaiah 30:20 (Contemporary English Version and ASV)

[xii] 2 Corinthians 4:6; John 17:24

[xiii] Ephesians 4:6; Jeremiah 23:24; Psalm 139:7–10;Hebrews 4:13

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stephencanup
stephencanup
Jan 27
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

So true! Everything we think, read, and enjoy should be causing us continuously to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. (Psalm 27:4).

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Debbie Corum
Debbie Corum
2 days ago
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Thanks Stephen! Blessings to you!

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