Becoming Aware of God
During Lent, we are asked to fast from something as a tool to make us more aware of God’s presence in our lives. Has that been happening for you? It has for me, and it has been causing me to see how out of proportion my thoughts about God are compared to His thoughts about me.
Sometimes I think it would just blow my mind if I could take in all the ways that God is speaking to me each hour, yet I remain oblivious. In His Word He tells me that He is totally in love with me—me, His fallen, misdirected and, worst of all, unaware of His presence—creature. I know God has got to be bigger than I can imagine because He tells me He is thinking of me constantly and everyone else too! Now that’s a lot of thoughts!
It might sound like I am making it up, but Psalm 139:17-18 tells me it’s true: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.” I may lose my sense of awareness of God’s presence, but He is never unaware of me. He is constantly thinking of me, and if I wanted to count how many thoughts he has about me it would be like counting the grains of sand. Does that blow your mind? It does mine. It’s at this season of the year that I become more mindful of God’s thoughts toward me. I guess it is because I become more mindful of what I eat and what I notice. This year I am eating differently, skipping caffeine and desserts—things I love! Each time I think through why I am denying myself what I want, I think about how much God loves me. It made me consider just how much that might be in comparison to me. You see, I love God more than these little things I am giving up, but what about how much God loves me? I’m trying not to be full of myself. The thing about it is that God loves you that much too; you just might not be as aware of it as I am. God loves me. He is always saying that. I am trying to tune into His language of love better. It is there all around me, but I get distracted by so many things I often miss it. Becoming aware of God is becoming aware of how much we are loved. Most people practice Lent the opposite way. What good thing do I have to give up to God now? What else is He going to take from me? When they give up chocolate, it doesn’t make them love God more, rather feel deprived more. The more I receive His messages of love, the more I am become aware of how many there are! The ones I grasp are so many; I can’t imagine the ones I’m missing that could fill up a shore with sand. If you are practicing Lent by giving up something, I want to encourage you to think about how disproportionate your sacrifice is to God’s sacrifice. Hear His message of love. Open your eyes, ears, heart and soul to all the ways God is trying to tell you how much He loves you.
|
