scripture and prayer reflection
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Lyrics
Father, open my eyes
Fill my heart with Your light
You make me come alive
I want to know You more
Father God, Your heart is full of wonder
Full of endless mercies
I was made to discover who You are
You're such a perfect mystery
You are more than the human mind
Could ever hope to comprehend but
Still You're calling me out into
The ocean of Your endless beauty
I want to know You more
You're the one that I want
You're the one that I need
You're everything that I long for
You're the giver of life
You're the author of peace
You're everything that I long for
'Cause I was made to love You
And pour out my heart
To the only One worthy of praise
It's all for You, only You
Only You are worthy
So we sing hallelujah, name above all names
You're worthy of all glory and all praise
Job 26:14
14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Psalm 27:4, 7-8
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Reflection
We are finite, limited creatures, while God is an infinite Creator — a person of such greater magnitude that we cannot hope to ever get a handle on Him. In a sense, we are incapable of knowing Him fully, simply because our minds will not ever be able stretch enough to understand Him in His entirety.
And yet, there is also a sense in which we can know God. He has revealed Himself to us through creation, scripture, and most clearly in the person of Jesus, who functions as our image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). While our knowledge may forever be incomplete, we can know Him sufficiently. There is just always more to learn, or to learn in greater depth.
And that is our main desire in prayer and reading God’s word — we don’t pray and read scripture out of a desire to “be good” or to “do the right thing”, but in order to grow in knowing and loving the LORD. We look to the ways that He has revealed Himself to understand more about Him. As the singer reflects, the truth is that we were created to know and love God. We see God’s desire to be with His people both in the garden of Eden as God meets with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, and the garden of Gethsemane when Christ accepts the cross for the sake of redeeming us from sin and death, reconciling us to God. He designed us to be in relationship with Him, to flourish when connected with Him, the “giver of life”. Not only is He worthy of glory and praise in and of Himself, but He is also what is best for us. He is our good — in an ultimate sense our only true good.
Take time to reflect on the idea of seeking the LORD. Does that feel dry and boring? Exciting and life-giving? Notice where your heart goes when you consider it. Sometimes we do not love things because we don’t know them that well, or because we have allowed our knowledge to become all-too-familiar and stale. If this feels true for you, consider spending time in stories from Jesus’ life to observe His heart and His interaction with people, or in the Psalms to observe aspects of human experience held before and with God. Reflecting on these could be a way of seeking to understand more about God — or to understand in greater depth — and allowing space for Him to grow love and life in your heart.
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