daily spiritual reflection - mar. 8

daily spiritual reflection

BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: 

I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

-Psalm 63:2-5

THOUGHT: I feel like our generation doesn't have a very good understanding of what glory is. In a world where we are desensitized to almost everything, that sense of deep awe and wonder at something completely magnificent seems to be lost. Reverence sometimes feels like a lost value. I always think of that scene in Gladiator when Maximus arrives at Rome and sees the Coliseum for the first time... all the gladiators with him are struck speechless, overwhelmed. And the Coliseum is merely a man-made thing; the glory of Rome was fleeting compared to God!

The glory of God is all around, though! Try letting yourself be open to being amazed and see what he shows you. Maybe you will be overwhelmed by his love-- the psalmist here is at a place where he feels the love of God "is better than life" itself! Maybe you will be overwhelmed by the beauty of his creation-- nature, the outdoors. Maybe you will be overwhelmed by how God comes through in response to your prayers, or maybe by some aspect of his character that explains the world in a new way. Don't hesitate to freely attribute those moments of revelation and being awestruck to God. You may find yourself overwhelmingly thankful or desiring to praise God out of your heart just because it seems like he deserves to be praised and thanked, like the psalmist here describes.

CHALLENGE:  Take some time today or this week to get out of doors. Take the time to marvel at the intricacy of nature, the phenomenal love and care and the unfathomable vision and intelligence that God must have used as he was dreaming up the world we live in. If you aren't sure what you think of God creating the world or if you've never envisioned it before, then try imagining it. Think of God as the artist who painted the sky, the gardener who tenderly planted all the plants, the gentle and joyful creator who molded the mountains, the powerful God who spoke the sun and stars into being. Take some time to really just soak in that sense of awe at the magnificence you experience.