It is no great vision to see the ugliness of now. Anyone who can see can see it. "The material world around us appears to be the real world, but it is not." (Warren Wiersbe
)
"The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Eternal. Unseen. Invisible. Elijah, in referring to the Lord, called Him "the God before Whom I live". Hebrews 11 tells me Moses "endured as seeing Him who is invisible". They 'saw' what cannot be seen. They chose to live in the seen world by the facts of the unseen world. They saw beyond the veil. Their eyes recognized eternity and looked past the here and now.
I've been thinking about Psalm 16:6 lately. "Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me. Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful." I've been thinking about it because it looks like my lot is not beautiful. Not pleasant. What I can see is dark. I read, "How great is the goodness You have stored up for those who fear You." (Psalm 31:19) But I don't see goodness. We are suspended between two worlds.
All this ugliness, all this death, all these days of darkness will give way before His Beauty and Life and Light. He makes all things beautiful in His time.
"He had no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. "
(Isaiah 53:2-4)
It says He had no beauty. Nothing to desire. Despised. Rejected. Man of sorrow. Bearing griefs. Esteemed not. Stricken. Smitten of God. Afflicted.
But in another place, it says (and how my heart thrills to read it), "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off." (Isaiah 33:17) How are they reconciled? I think by which eyes we see Him with. See Him in the material, and it's sorrow and grief and affliction. See Him in the far off land, and you see the King in His Beauty.
"You will no longer be forsaken and hated, a city deserted and desolate. I will make you great and beautiful, a place of joy forever and ever." (Isaiah 60:15)
"The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see the Lord's splendor, see His greatness and power." (Isaiah 35:2)
"They will be alive with new growth, and beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like the cedars of Lebanon." (Hosea 14:6)
"For our light affliction, which is for the moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:17, 18)
Indeed, my Inheritance is Something Beautiful.
) "The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Eternal. Unseen. Invisible. Elijah, in referring to the Lord, called Him "the God before Whom I live". Hebrews 11 tells me Moses "endured as seeing Him who is invisible". They 'saw' what cannot be seen. They chose to live in the seen world by the facts of the unseen world. They saw beyond the veil. Their eyes recognized eternity and looked past the here and now.
I've been thinking about Psalm 16:6 lately. "Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me. Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful." I've been thinking about it because it looks like my lot is not beautiful. Not pleasant. What I can see is dark. I read, "How great is the goodness You have stored up for those who fear You." (Psalm 31:19) But I don't see goodness. We are suspended between two worlds.
All this ugliness, all this death, all these days of darkness will give way before His Beauty and Life and Light. He makes all things beautiful in His time.
"He had no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. "
(Isaiah 53:2-4)
It says He had no beauty. Nothing to desire. Despised. Rejected. Man of sorrow. Bearing griefs. Esteemed not. Stricken. Smitten of God. Afflicted.
But in another place, it says (and how my heart thrills to read it), "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off." (Isaiah 33:17) How are they reconciled? I think by which eyes we see Him with. See Him in the material, and it's sorrow and grief and affliction. See Him in the far off land, and you see the King in His Beauty.
"You will no longer be forsaken and hated, a city deserted and desolate. I will make you great and beautiful, a place of joy forever and ever." (Isaiah 60:15)
"The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see the Lord's splendor, see His greatness and power." (Isaiah 35:2)
"They will be alive with new growth, and beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like the cedars of Lebanon." (Hosea 14:6)
"For our light affliction, which is for the moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:17, 18)
Indeed, my Inheritance is Something Beautiful.
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