Foretaste of Heaven

Foretaste of Heaven

Yesterday was a perfect early September day, absolutely gorgeous: pleasantly hazy and sunny, 85 degrees with a slight breeze. Along with this the air had a refreshingly cool touch.

Praise be to you, Lord, for such foretastes of heaven where all will be perfect every day. There we won’t need the challenge of weather or problems to keep us occupied. Your presence and personality, filling all the universe, will be far more than enough to keep us occupied and engaged.

And I suspect you will have lots of stimulating work for us to do there. You are such a creative God: there will be no end to new things you will bring out of your infinite mind and heart.

Such a God as you, the One and Only True God, are worthy of worship and honor and glory. You are worthy of our whole-hearted, continual and complete followership. You are worthy of total obedience, absolute surrender and complete trust. You are perfect, immutable, lovely, wise, powerful, just, pure, kind, forgiving, gracious and good.

You are far better than anything we could imagine, for in you there is no flaw—we have never experienced anything like that here on earth; everything has weaknesses, problems, faults and lacks. But in you there is no lack, no end of supply, no failure, no loss.

You are all that is good; you are void of what is bad. I praise you that you cannot sin, you cannot lie, you cannot be tempted with evil, you can do no wrong. These are the opposite of your nature. You are unchangingly pure. Therefore we can call you our Rock, our Fortress, our Defender, our Shield, our Strength, our Stronghold.

You are Glorious beyond our knowledge, you are Great beyond comprehension, you are Good beyond understanding, you are Gracious beyond measure.  In you lies all we desire, for we were made to live with you, by you, for you. In you we are complete, with you we are protected, by you we are empowered, for you we can live, work, love and die.

Your marvelous, rich, infinite and eternal character is the basis for our coming to you. In our needs and distress we can cry with the Psalmist:

Psa 25:6  Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.”  [Out of these two wonderful qualities you acted into the world, bringing complete, powerful, full-orbed salvation. Now, in our day, you are moved to act out of the same monumental mercy and long lasting love.  It is in you that our trust comes alive. It is your mercy and love that are the grounds for appeal to you. And it is out of love and mercy that you will answer with what is best, good and wise. We can rest in that truth, praising you now for what you will do without knowing what that will be.

Psa 25:7 “Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;” [How can the eternal, infinite all knowing Creator not remember this vast amount of pain producing rebellion that flowed from my heart? Yet you can choose to do so; you do choose to not remember. This is different than forgetting; the memory is there, but you will not to bring it to mind, for my sin and rebellion have been dealt with in Christ’s marvelous sacrifice. You can put it out of your mind, remove it as far as East is from West.

“according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.” [You allow us to appeal to your love; this is not just one of your characteristics, or qualities. You are love itself, it is your essence, it is what you are made of, along with life and light. We can rest in the ocean of your love and grace, your goodness and forgiveness, confident that in Christ we are cherished, delighted in and deeply loved.

What a marvelous, majestic, magnificent, mighty privilege it is to be in your family, a child of the King, fully pardoned, free of accusation, resting in your grace and goodness. We are motivated by your love to respond in love and obedience, rejecting the selfish, independent, stubborn, rebellious desires of self. Instead, within the freedom you have given us, we can choose to obey your Word and your Spirit, trusting in you, serving you, loving you.

Praise be to you, Lord God, as you have drawn us into your embrace and lead us onward and upward in our walk with you into the delightful difficulties, dangers and disappointments of this world—all of which pale to nothing in the light of your presence. With our eyes on you we can say with Asaph, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” (Psa 73:25)

Be glorified in my life today, Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit. May your goodness, grace, glory and greatness overflow from my life onto all those I meet today, that they may also turn to you. Amen.