What we see when we read often depends on what is going on in our live at the time we read. Today is one of those days.
All of us must come to You. You forgive our sins. What festivities await us in Your holy temple. These first words in today’s reading leap out at me. In fact, they bring tears to my eyes, and fill me with hope. Especially today.
It’s funny how your outlook on the day can change upon receipt of a single piece of news. I remember quite vividly how my day went from good to bad the day the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded on take off. I felt less confident in our abilities that day, reminded of how dangerous space exploration really is. Years later my day was off to a routine start, and I had my usual list of things that absolutely had to be accomplished before the day’s end….and then two planes flew into the twin towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 was brought down by terrorists, and suddenly all the things I had to do that day didn’t matter at all. In fact, I think there were some tasks that never were accomplished….they were put off to the side so we could deal with the WTC disaster, and probably forgotten. They dropped from top priority all the way to forgotten because they were so unimportant in less than 2 weeks. Actually, they probably fell most of that distance on the first day.
Isn’t it remarkable how events around us change our mood, and our priorities? And yet, in the grander scheme nothing of importance has really changed. No matter what happens on earth, one day each of us is going to appear before God. No matter what sins we have committed, all of them are freely forgiven when we honestly acknowledge Jesus, and ask for His mercy. And then we enter into heaven, where all tears are wiped away…the place where sadness never appears, where pure joy and delight are constant companions. Friends will be there with us, those who have walked the path faithfully ahead of us. We will be there present in eternity forever together. There will be people there with us who haven’t been born yet. I wonder how they will introduce themselves as they enter? Will I be introduced to my grandchildren’s grandchildren? Will my life and my testimony have made any impact at all upon them? Will they greet me in the same way that I am looking forward to greeting others?
I wonder if there will be anyone in heaven who is there because of something I said or did? I will certainly be there because of the sacrifice and testimony of others. Will there be anyone in heaven because of what God did through you? Such thoughts have a way of reorganizing your priorities, don’t they?
While David was crying out to God for help, his testimony and his character were being recorded to help people like me through difficult times. I doubt David grasped the significance of it, unless the Holy Spirit allowed him to do so. Even in his weaker moments, God used David to help us understand Him. Perhaps we are best used in our “weaker” moments. Maybe the days when we are filled with pride and confidence and hubris are the days when we are the least able to reflect Jesus. If that is true, then it changes how we see things, doesn’t it? Moments of vulnerability become pockets of insight and strength. When we are weak, we are strong….
Today heaven is richer at the entrance of an old friend, whose faith and testimony towered over my own. Suddenly, everything is different – even though nothing of consequence has changed.
Faithfully,
PR