Asking

 

Just when I think I’ve seen a miracle, that there just couldn’t be something more wonderful or more faithful or more merciful…there it is.

And just when I think I have wrapped my small frame (and my even smaller brain) around even a sliver of His majesty and His goodness, His beauty, His creativity, His Holiness…He smiles. He smiles and then He delights to blow me away…again.

I have to shake my head, actually, at my own presumptuousness. My nature is to find a box in which to put every slice of my life in neat and tidy, understandable and containable rows.

My humanity desperately wants to do the same thing to my Heavenly Father – to draw closer, to understand deeper, to open wider to all that He is. The total insanity is that the more I see Him, the more I want Him.

 

There is no end to the ways that He satisfies and fills. There is no void He can’t speak into, no space He can’t occupy. His intimacy surprises and astounds the vulnerable and open heart.

I love that about my Abba.

The more we want and pursue Him, the more He delights to reveal Himself to us. And friends, He is inexhaustible. And I believe that His greatest delight is to draw us into His heart. His heart beats to connect with His creation–with us, with you, with me.

I can’t help but think about the story of Moses crying out to God, “LORD, show me your glory!” (Exodus 33:18)

Scripture says that God spoke with Moses “face to face as with a friend” (Exodus 33:11). I just love that!  And in the miracles of deliverance in Egypt, the pillars of cloud and fire, and the parting of the Red Sea, Moses was still hungry. Amazingly, after all that God had done and shown him, Moses wanted more, and He had the courage to ask for it.

On the other side of the miracles, the other side of the deliverance, Moses knew there was more. He wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more intimacy with his Heavenly Father and he cried out, “LORD, show me your glory!”

Wow. I don’t know about you, but my soul aches with that very request.

But the truth is that I just don’t often ask God to do that for me as boldly. I am not sure why, except that I simply don’t think about it. To my shame, I recognize that in my day to day, I just don’t give myself the space to ask God for more, to allow myself to un-contain God and give Him a wider berth in which to amaze and astound.

Perhaps I have believed the lie that asking God to show me more of Himself is somehow selfish. It’s not. Or worse, I have succumbed to the doubt that He just doesn’t want to show more to me.

Since the moment our Father breathed life into man’s lungs, He has yearned to walk with us again in the wonder of His garden – to connect deeply, unhindered, unashamed, and unafraid. I believe that He yearns for us to call out to Him again, unending in our desire to know Him, to be with Him, to walk with and love Him.

Well, Moses asked, God answered. Mightily. Not half-way, but ALL the way. The book of Exodus says that after Moses asked God, “Lord, show me Your glory,” God took him and placed him in the cleft of a rock. He then placed His hand over Moses in that rocky place to shield him from what he couldn’t handle. Can you relate?

What I love about this testimony is that God responded in the exact measure of what was needed. You can almost feel the tenderness of God as He explained the parameters of what He could show Moses and why.

But in His great discernment and wisdom, God answered Moses’ greatest need.

And as God passed by, He removed the veil of His tender hand and allowed Moses to gaze upon His glory.

Moses didn’t even realize the gravity of what he asked of God. But God knew. And God answered. God protected. God provided. He knows what we need before we even ask Him. Yet, He desires our lips form the words to commune with Him within that request.

 

My prayer for you (and for me) today is that we would not fear to draw near and ask. That we would venture deeper into the heart of God. The song I want to share with you today is from Kari Jobe’s new album entitled, The Garden. The song is called, “Closer to Your Heart.” It is a prayer as much as it is worship. Enjoy and be blessed.

 

With joy for the journey,

Sarah

 

ALSO!! Join Sarah and the Worship Team at our next Strength2Thrive Conference in San Diego on October 28! Register here – you’ll be so glad you did!