Eyes Wide Open

Hello Everyone,

In Exodus 33, we find a remarkable encounter between Moses and his God.  Moses has come to the place where he is convinced that on his own, without the presence of God, he is weak and insufficient to complete his mission, and unwilling to go any further from where he currently is.  Look at verses 14 & 15, “And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!”  So Strong was Moses’ intent on not moving outside of God’s tangible presence, that he insists God gives him clear evidence that He will be with him. Moses asks God for a physical sign of Himself, something tangible that will leave its mark and be a deliberate ‘tell tale’ of God’s presence on him and the people.  So he puts it ‘out there’ and asks God to show him His glory; knowing full well that anyone in the midst of God’s glory cannot escape being visibly changed by it.  Look at verse18, “And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory.”  

God’s response is both willing and immediate, and He gives Moses what he asks for, but perhaps not in the way Moses, or you and I would expect.  verse 19 tells us that God shows Moses His glory, by letting him see His goodness. “And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness.”

As born again, children of God, we have been given the precious gift of the presence and glory of God, His Holy Spirit, indwelling us. He has promised to never leave us and to guide and teach us His ways, and lead us into all truth.  Just as Moses and the children of Israel carried a tell-tale sign of His presence being with them, as His children, we do too.  That sign is what we should be expecting and experiencing every day of our lives: His goodness to us.

Irrespective of the circumstance we face, God’s Spirit is still residing in us and His goodness will continue to be evident in our lives, we just need to train and open our eyes to see it.  God is good, and when we begin each day thanking Him for Who He is to us, and ask Him to show His intervention in our lives throughout the day, we will be amazed at what we find!  Every act of kindness shown to us, every moment of peace, or display of beauty, that brings us joy.  The love in the eyes of a friend or the hug from your child.  All around us, and at every turn, we can expect to see the goodness of God at work in our lives, if we just stop focusing on the problems and open our eyes to see Him in the seemingly insignificant details of our day.

Let me remind you of a truth that gives every child of God the ‘permission’ to expect the goodness of God in our lives, just because we are His.   God’s greatest display of goodness ever shown to mankind was what Jesus did on the cross for us.  The fact that He was willing to go to that extreme to snatch us out of the devil’s clutches and make us His very own, tells us we have true value to Him. A value that says we are worth every drop of blood that was spilt.  

Now take a look at what Romans 8:31& 32 says, “What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?” 

Please go back and read the underlined part of that verse again.  This scripture is saying that God held nothing back when He gave us Jesus, His measure of goodness towards us was extreme.  So, now that we are His, how can we not expect Him to keep being good to us, just as freely and graciously, in all things we need now?

Take a look at what James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].”

God is good, He always was and He always will be good. There is no shadow of changing in Him. And while He lives in us, and we are choosing to yield to His presence inside us, His goodness will be evident and continuously at work in our lives.  

What about when it feels like the pressures of the world around us and our difficult circumstances are closing in, how do we see His goodness then?

When you can’t see His goodness around you, look for it where it can be found!  We have to begin to train ourselves to open the eyes of our hearts to the Word of God and see Him and His goodness towards us in it!  When we take the time to look for our Good God, Who is our Good Shepherd, in His Word, we will find Him.  And when that truth comes in through what we read and hear, and we allow it to sink into our hearts, it begins to go to work in and for us.  Slowly but surely, we begin to think as He thinks and see things from His perspective and our words begin to line up with His words and we start to believe and expect what His Word says we can believe and expect.

God told Moses that He would see His goodness displayed in His Name that would always go before them, in His grace, His mercy and His loving kindness towards them.  As His children, we carry His Name.  It’s the Name that is above all others, and holds all authority over every force and circumstance.  At the Name of Jesus, every knee will bow and come into submission to His will.  Sickness will flee and every bondage and burden will be removed and destroyed at the mention of it, as its spoken out in faith.  

His grace and mercy and loving kindness are freely extended to us, all the time, wherever we go.  We simply need to turn our eyes to Him and His Word and see it, breath it in, drink deep of its truth, believe it, and be satisfied by it.  Let it nourish our souls, energise our spirits and quicken our bodies.  

Because you are His, and He lives in you, you can choose to have your eyes wide open to see His goodness. 

All my love,

Jenny