See and Respond
We live unto the Lord, whether in a Sunday service or the Monday marketplace, a quiet home or noisy public space (Col 3:23). Amazingly, the Lord involves himself in our daily lives, alongside managing the universe and steering the affairs of nations! He is with us; invisible1 but not hidden, and he makes it possible for us to see and respond to him in all of life.
Light-prompts
In any daily experience, pleasant or otherwise, there’s (in the words of C.S. Lewis) a beam of light2, viz. something that the Lord wants us to know, or recall, about himself. His light-prompts are present in the changing frames of our daily experiences.
But life can be busy, noisy and demanding, and we might fail to see the light beams because we are so engrossed in our circumstances.
How can we grow as pray-ers who see and respond to the Lord, not only in the ‘churchy’ times, but in the congestion and rush of daily life?
Best place to form the habit
Our ‘inner room’ is the best place to learn responses to the Lord. What happens there overflows into our daily living spaces.
The Lord has given us spiritual eyes that can take in the view of him. It’s an imperfect seeing, but it strengthens with use (Eph 1:18). Initially, a discipline of love, it becomes an enjoyable habit.
Exposure and response form the core of our eternal priesthood! The Lord hasn’t reserved it for the afterlife. The Spirit of Christ (who has a perfect view of his glory) is helping us to see and respond to him now.
As the habit grows in our private times with him, it spills over into all of our living.
Read the Bible as a pray-er
We read the Bible as pray-ers who love the Speaker and want to see more of him. And seeing him draws a response.
For example, we might read a passage that refers to God’s unfailing love. That truth is his gift to us; he is telling us something wonderful about himself. As his priestly bride, we choose to respond rather than race past the view.
Our best first response is to admire him (admiration prayers – spoken or sung – include wonder, thanks, celebration, praise, and adoration). By practicing ‘see and respond’ when we read scripture, the Spirit is coaching us to do the same in our daily living.
That light from the Word (in this case, the Lord’s unfailing love) remains with us throughout the day (and beyond) as a truth-prompt, nudging us to respond to him.
He shines in our day’s activities in creative ways to draw our attention to himself. But the clearest and constant light throughout the day is the view he gives us of himself in his Word. Making Word-time as a pray-er at the start of the day, or the night before, prepares us to see and respond to him in the new day’s journey.
In Psalm 89:1-2, the Lord (through Ethan’s song) tells us at least three things about his love.
- Read the passage as a pray-er with an appetite to see the Lord.
- See and respond to the gifts of truth about himself that he has placed there. Respond to each truth with prayers of admiration. A good place to start is with the response that gets top mention in the Bible: thanksgiving. Then add other admiration prayer types. See the post Prayer Medley about blending prayer types.
1Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, Hebrews 11:27 2Meditation in a Toolshed
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