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Grace takes you from where you are to where God wants you to be. God is able and He is the Head of all.
Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly acknowledging His Headship thus, ‘Yours O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and earth is yours; yours is the kingdom O Lord, and you are exalted as Head over all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might; in your Hand it is to make great, And to give strength to all’. [1 Chronicles 29:11,12] As Head of all, His leadership is established and carried out in love. Everything that God does for you finds it’s basis in His everlasting love for you. So, He leads you in love, a love that compels you to respond in loving submission.
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go. I will counsel you with My eye upon you. [Psalms 32:8] Even as a vow is exchanged in a marriage covenant, ‘I will’ in the verse above, is God’s personal covenanted promise to every child of God. There is no intermediary. There is one Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for many. God promises to counsel you with His eye upon you.
Communication happens when you make eye contact with a person. And it is how God communicates to lead and guide you. He makes eye contact with you. His eye is upon you.
‘May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace’. [Numbers 6:24-26] It is the blessing of God given through Moses to the Israelites, His chosen people. And today, He will confirm it in your life, since you are His child, His chosen people. It will enlighten you to receive clarity and replace sorrow with joy. He dwells in unapproachable light.
Paul describes his conversion as he was proceeding on the road to Damascus thus, ‘At midday along the road, I saw a light brighter than the sun shining around me and my companions’. [Acts 26:13] The true Light that enlightens every man changed his life’s direction, leading him to his divinely appointed destiny. His life was turned upside down, and the violent man who was persecuting Christians, ended up writing nearly one half of the new testament. He is a God who shows no partiality. And one encounter with the Lord, the Light of the world, will change your life’s direction too, even if you find yourself moving away from the purposes of God. There are some cultures and religions in the world where the lighting of a lamp is a ritual of worship. But you have a living God, a God who is light. He lights the lamp within you, turning the darkness of ignorance in your life into the light of revelation and truth. Again, as the book of proverbs declares, your human spirit is the lamp which the Holy Spirit lights within you, empowering you to follow His divine pursuits, drawing you away from worldly pleasures that are temporary and destructive.
‘May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace’, is the blessing of God. One translation expresses it in a manner that is simple and profound, declaring ‘God is smiling upon you, giving you peace’. In other words, ‘Look at Me, Look at My Face’, He says to you. And when He looks at you, you will indeed receive peace like a river. You will prosper in all areas of your life, in your spirit, soul and body.
Psalms 22 is prophetic. It is a Messianic psalm, giving a window into the Savior’s agony on the Cross. His painful emotions are heartbreakingly displayed. ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me ?’ is the cry of brokenness with which the psalm begins. These are the very words that the Lord Himself cried out on the Cross. But the loving comfort of God comes through as the psalm progresses. For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Nor has He hidden His face from him. But when He cried out to God, He heard him. [vs 24] And He is the unchanging God who remains the same even in your life today. He never despises or underestimates your problem, even if it seems insignificant in the eyes of the world.
His eye is upon you, seeing deep into your heart. He knows all that is going on in your life, within and without. He never abhors your pain. And He can touch you as no one else can, even in places that no one else has the right to touch you, to bring healing and wholeness. He never hides His face from the affliction of the afflicted. There is a reason why the friends of Job are referred to as ‘Job’s comforters’! They stood afar, for they were wary of Job’s skin condition, and when they tried to comfort Job they did not have the right words to offer. But the dear Lord Jesus drew near to touch the lepers who were considered unclean to heal them. He touched the men who would not have experienced a human touch for years and years. And yes, the disease may have ravaged their skin, causing it to lose all sensitivity, but the healing touch of the Savior would have penetrated deep within to their hearts – hearts that were sensitive and yearning for a loving touch. God’s eye is upon you to heal you.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show His power on behalf of those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. [2 Chronicles 16:9] Faith and favor demand that God be your only source. But this is often not the case when a person goes to the Lord in prayer for a need to be satisfied. For even as he prays, there is a plan at the back of his mind, a plan B, in case God does not come through. But when your heart is fully committed to God, when His plan becomes yours, He will never let you down. His promises never change. But He will change everything else to fit into His plan. Therefore, when with the psalmist you are able to trust and say, ‘Our eyes are fixed on you’, God responds. He responds by showing His power. When you confess Him before men, declaring, ‘God’s plan is my plan’, the Lord will confess you before His Father. It is His promise.
And if God is for you, who can be against you?
Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.. [Hebrews 12:2] As the words of the old song invites you to do – ‘turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full on His wonderful face’. When your eyes are fixed on the Lord, He then lovingly says to you, ‘My eyes are upon you’. And it is in that moment of communication that revelation happens, seeing you receive divine favor that flourishes your life.
How does this exchange happen?
It may be a crowd of people, but when in the midst of it your eyes pick out a known face, the face of your loved one, your face will immediately light up in a smile of recognition and affection. How much more it would be with the God who loves you. You are special to God. He is even now smiling upon you giving you peace. And it is in His word that you see Him. He touches you through His word to enlighten you. He is also the God who is not only great in counsel, but is also mighty in deed, in showing His power.
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. [Genesis 6:8] In the eyes of the Lord, Noah found favor. And it can be said of you too. For His eyes have seen you even when you were in your mother’s womb. He saw you before you saw yourself. ‘Your eyes saw my unformed substance’, the psalmist so powerfully declares. [Psalm 139:16] He has loved you. He has chosen you. And you being seated in His presence today, is the sign of His divine favor upon you. You have indeed found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Self indulgence ruled the day in the days of Noah, for no one’s focus was on God. But Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. [Genesis 6:9] Noah believed in God and thus walked with Him. He was righteous and blameless, in the eyes of God. Even today, self-effort can never enable you to live a life that is holy. It is also true that it is difficult to live a holy life in any generation, not just in the present days of the twenty first century. But as it is seen in the life of Noah, in every generation God is looking for people who would walk with Him in sweet communion. The key to it all is Christ.
It is Christ who sanctifies you. And holiness is Christ living in and through you, independent of your circumstance, be it positive or negative. Whether it was in Jerusalem or Babylon, Daniel remained an obedient child of God. Joseph was godly in all circumstances and places – the pit, the prison, in the house of Potiphar or while administrating Egypt. It was because God was with him. God is with you too, when you are His child, in relationship with Him. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. In places that are undesirable, when you step in, and find yourself falling, it is only He who can pick you up and bring you out of the darkness. It is grace, pure and simple – His unmerited favor upon your life.
You are breathing continuously, every single moment that you are alive here on earth. But you become aware of the fact that you are breathing, when asked about your ‘breath’. In the same manner, the bible declaring that God was with Joseph describes the awareness of the presence of God that was in Joseph. Noah too was in habitual communion, in constant fellowship with God. In other words, he walked with God, as you can do too.
Studying and meditating upon the scriptures can begin within you a divine conversation with the one, true, Living God. Noah had never seen rain. He did not know what a boat would look like. But living in constant fellowship with God, he was forewarned about the coming flood. And in faithful obedience he constructed the ark. [Hebrews 11:7] Scripture foresees and foretells even today. [Galatians 3:8] The word of God speaks to you about past events, gives clarity about the present, and foretells what is going to take place in the future.
Noah heard from God. He listened and obeyed to build the ark for the salvation of his family. It needs to be your response too when God’s eye is upon you to counsel and instruct you through His word. God has something very specific for you in His word. And it is why your eyes need to be fixed on God, His word, inspired by the Spirit.
It is where your primary responsibility lies – which is to build the ark of protection for you and your family. God has a specific plan for it, and let it be your plan too. He has a way for it, and there is no other way but Jesus. ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved’, Paul tells the trembling jailer. [Acts 16:31] It is why you need to hear from Him, and apply it in your life. The eyes of your children observe two things – what you are, the words you speak in the public domain, and what you are in the privacy of your own home. And the difference is going to make all the difference in their lives.
Let every good thing that your children learn and every good gift, come through you, as you build the ark of protection. And to empower you, God will keep His eye upon you, to counsel and instruct you, in the way you should go. The fruit of it will see all your children taught of the Lord; and great will be their peace. [Isaiah 54:13] He is the true Light that enlightens any man. He can still bring about a change that restores the child whom you think has strayed away. Nothing is impossible with God.
The word of God is a seed, which when planted in the soil of your heart, has the power within it, for the word to come to pass in your life. All scripture is inspired by God, and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. [2 Timothy 3:16,17] In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything in it came into being as He spoke the word. He will do it in your life too. He will create a world of blessing and power for you, through His word.
It happened to Noah, as he carried on with his God given task of building the ark. But in the end, it was he who had the last laugh, so to say, painful though it would have been to him.
Do not be like the horse or the mule, without understanding; Whose temper must be curbed with bit or bridle, else it will not stay near you. [Psalms 32:9] This is your responsibility, even as the Lord instructs you with His eye upon you. Let your eyes be fixed on Him, to hear His specific word of revelation to you, through the scriptures. Let not being insensitive like a mule, or rushing ahead like a horse, be your response. Be sensitive to hearing from the Lord. And wait upon Him to mount up on wings like an eagle. The all-knowing, all powerful God is ever so patient. His eye is upon you. And as you make eye contact with Him through the Spirit and the Word, God’s smile upon you blesses you with prosperity and peace. Give thanks unto the Lord, for lifting up His countenance upon you, giving you the gracious gift of salvation. There is indeed an ark of blessing for you and your household. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
