Reaching...

The Beauty of Pursuit

Last night when I was cutting out magazine clippings I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them... and then I got really excited about worshipping in a different way, mainly inspired by Kelly and her artistic talents. So this morning I got up and took out my sketchbook and gathered some of the clippings and made a collage about beauty and wrote in verses and prayers around it. It was SO FUN! Its like a different way of journaling, and having images before me helps me to worship and praise God for specific things. and we all know that I can't sit still to save my life, so doing something while praying was helpful (although I acknowledge it is still important for me to be still sometimes). But this is what God showed me...

Because we are created in His image, and He is a creative Creator, we have a desire to create as well... and when we make things beautiful and create new things with our hands we feel His pleasure in creation...
Psalm 139:13 kept coming into my head while I worked...

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb...

So often we look at the huge ocean and see His power or at the little petals on a flower and see His intricacy... but how often do we look at ourselves and see His workmanship, His masterpiece? The psalm continues...

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well...

By His works, David means US! I was so blown away by that realization that I started over at the beginning of the Psalm reading it aloud, and just started to cry realizing the way God pursues us. This Psalm is about the delight of being known, deeply and wholly. I think I have always viewed verses 7-8 as David fleeing God...

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there...

and the first few verses as God being a watchdog of our lives...

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar...

But no... David is FINDING God in all places, not fleeing Him. And that God knows our every move and every thought is meant to be comforting, not threatening. How our pride and fierce independence and mistrust of being known makes us defensive against being known so intimately. But when I read it aloud this morning I saw how these are not words of complaint, but rather words of praise. The God of the Universe can predict our actions and finish our sentences-- much like a husband can for his life-long wife because he knows her so well.
I heard it said once that we were born gagging on God-- that sin has made us adverse to Him, and that as we are redeemed we become more attracted, more in love, and our desire for Him is restored. It is perplexing that what we want most in the world, to be known, is also what seems the most threatening to us, isn't it?
Nevertheless, regardless of our adversity, stubborness, and resistance... our God chases us.

Breathtaking.