This morning I was so touched by the Lord in my time with Him regarding my need to see Him more in a real way. It is only when we see Him that we see ourselves – how much we realize concerning ourselves depends on how much we see the Lord.
Just like Job: we can talk a lot of things about God, have a lot of knowledge about God, and sound so convincing about Him, but unless we see Him face to face, we don’t really know what we’re talking about. This is Job’s reaction when he saw God (Job 42:5-6):
I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You; therefore I abhor myself; and I repent in dust and ashes.
The more we see the Lord, the more we see what we are – and we realize that there is nothing good within us. The light from the Lord exposes our true condition. The wonderful thing is whatever is exposed by the Lord in His shining is also killed by the light. When we see our shortcomings under the shining of the Lord’s light, these shortcomings are killed immediately.
Many times all we need is just to agree with the light and say, Lord, I agree, I have this shortcoming, and I am so short of You… – and the light kills it. As the Holy Spirit enlightens us, we are dealt with. Revelation is God’s way of operating in us – when we see Him, we see ourselves, and we are being exposed in certain aspects / shortcomings / sins – these are dealt with by the shining of the light!
The greatest thing in our Christian experience is the exposing and the killing that comes from the light. We think we are OK, and all the modern developments and teachings / things in this world encourage us to feel OK with our situation. But when we touch the Lord, when He shines on us, we see our true condition – we are so proud, we are so filthy, so full of sins, so full of defects….
Once we see our true condition under God’s light, and once we see our pride / our defects, this impression will never leave us. It will stay with us and enable us not to be as proud as before – we will even have a pain in us whenever we’re about to be proud…. His shining in us kills the negative things in us and increases God’s life and His kingdom in us.
In light of these things, what else can we say but like the author of that song,
O may Your living light, Lord
Scatter all my night, Lord,
And everything make bright, Lord,
For this I pray to You!
We need the Lord’s shining on us – we need to see God in the shining of the light. Not just to know about Him and what He can do for us, but to see Him. Really touch Him in a personal, intimate, and real way. Yes, this touch is so sweet and intimate, so nourishing and revitalizing – yet at the same time, we are being exposed, killed, and resurrected to live a life together with the Lord in resurrection. Lord, continue to shine on us. We want to see You, Lord!
Amen. Thank You Lord for the shining. That we can see our sinful nature as it is.
Amen! Thank You Lord for exposing our defects and for Your shining within, all so that we can overcome and be free from sin, amen!