Seeing the Splendor of God and "Getting It"

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Isaiah 26:10, 15 (the Message). (v 10) “if the wicked are shown grace, they don’t seem to get it. In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living, blind to the splendor of God.” (v15) “But the living You make larger than life. The more life You give, the more glory You display, and stretch the borders to accommodate more living.”

“Stretch the borders of life.” Lord, this is my prayer today. May I be willing to allow You to stretch my life, that in the “living” of it day by day, my life will display Your glory. That others, even Christians who are living (or rather existing) in cramped prisons where they cannot see Your grace, and others who truly are wicked unbelievers, would have You open their eyes to see Your grace and get it.

I think too of the ‘retreat’ the Women’s Ministry Center is planning. May this be a stretching in all who make come.
A stretching of our faith,
of our love,
of our hope,
of our trust,
of our abilities and gifts.

A stretching of our capacity to receive Your love and to give it
A stretching of our worship
A stretching of our desire to praise You in all things,
A stretching in our giving, not just money, but our love, gifts, and talents, our hospitality.

When I think again of stretching our capacity to receive your love and grace, Oh God, we all need this stretching. We are so wrapped up tight in the struggles of everyday life, we don’t even realize our need, let alone recognize the grace when it is offered.

Lord, we want to “get it” – to recognize it – to believe it is for us personally, and that it is attainable.

Stretch us Lord, as Bruce Wilkerson says, “stretch and enlarge our borders, in every possible area and where we are closed up and small.”

So we may see the splendor of God, and “get it.”