Man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked
upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize
himself.
John Calvin
A good friend sent this to me this week. It is so true. He wrote in his email...
"I sometimes pray "Lord, help me to see You for who You really are,
and help me to see who I really am without You." In His response, I don't
think I ever fully get to see Him for all He really is, but I do get a
better and renewed picture of who I am without Him. It isn't pretty."
Isaiah wrestled with this in Isaiah 6...
Isaiah 6:5 (New Living Translation)
Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
In fact, if you look at the common theme of all of man's encounters with Angels or with God in the Old Testament, there is only one thing that is true. It is not the message given or even how the message was given, but that the man shrank in fear - marveled and moved by the holiness of God Himself.
Anytime, that we put who we are on the scale of who God is, we not only fall short, but we are ruined, undone, doomed. But an interesting thing happens in the New Testament...
Hebrews 4:14-16 (New Living Translation)
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
God becomes flesh and because of that we have hope. Not in our ability to "get it." But in His ability to relate to us.
So, we search the face of God, and contemplate His holiness, and we could feel undone in a hurry. He is so holy, and we are not! And we could feel undone, ruined, or doomed by that - and rightly so. But because of Jesus Christ, we have the hope that we can approach the throne room with boldness. What a gift He has given us.
So, may you be full of the boldness that comes from the character of Christ. May you have victory in your life over the things that keep you stuck. And as you search the face of God, may you marvel at His holiness, and may you marvel even more at the gift He has given you to have access to His throne.
