Seen and Heard

Do not be like the hypocrites.

They are missing out.

               They pray to be seen by people

               rather than by their unseen Father.

               Filled with the recognition they seek,

               they miss the eyes of the Beloved One.

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He goes unseen,

              hidden from the view of pride,

              invisible to the self-absorbed.

              He sees and is seen by

              those who close and lock the door

              to be alone with him.

Father, may I be seen by you,

              may your eyes light up my soul,

              may your gaze fill me.

“I see you,” he says.  “I see you.”

Do not be like those who don’t know God,

                         trying to move him with words

                         when he is already moved on their behalf,

                         covering all their bases

                         when only one thing is necessary,

                                           sitting at his feet.

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He waits in silence

               in silence he is heard.

               When I am drowned by many words,

               silence is the ark that stays afloat

               and makes room for his re-creating word,

                                                   his call for deliverance.

Father, close my mouth and ears

              as you did the door of the ark.

              May the flood of noise

              always be outside our place.

“I hear you,” he says.  “I hear you.”

I am seen.

I am heard.

         What else would a father do?

             The heavens are open to me.

        I need not make a name for myself,

             only call out yours.

        I do not have to make things happen;

             I need only be remade.

        Each day you care for me

             as one who knows what I need before I ask.

        As long as people owe me recognition,

             I am collecting.

        Allow me to let it all go

             so I am free to seek your recognition.

        There are many things that shine,

                         many things that call,

             but only you are worth seeing and hearing

                         in everything.

I am seen.

I am heard.

I am free.

( A meditation on Matthew 6:5-17 for my fellow Embers)

As Good as Dead

For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.  (Psalm 28:2)

More and more I see why God had to send the gospel, that is "good news" to me.  There is a strange human propensity to focus on what is miserable.  I guess I am not altogether surprised.  Such continual harping on the evils of the day are an indirect accusation against God.

The Psalmists teach me that such indirect accusations rot in my bones.  They make God silent because I refuse to listen.  I am tempted to bury my head in the sand of my objections, accusations, and cynical statements because they justify my rotten thoughts and actions.  When God remains silent, I wither away.

Occasionally, God is absent because he wants to teach me to draw nearer to him.  He may want to teach me deeper spiritual matters through a "desert time" or a "dark night."  More often, however, God is silent because I  shut him up.  I refuse to receive his comfort and wisdom.  I prefer my own worries and complaints to his help and comfort.  Why?

I guess I get upset that I cannot navigate this life alone.  I get mad that I am dependent on God.  I vent my frustration on everyone around me that I am not the sole object of their respect, concern, or care.

I can learn from these people of prayer in the Psalms that without this "good news" I am as good as dead.  When the Word from God is forgotten, nothing remains except fear and pain.  The gospel teaches that the heart of this universe is not "survival of the fittest" or random movements of molecules, but a Word that communicates love.  God's love is at the heart of this universe.

Something has gone dreadfully wrong with life on earth, however.  But it is not a matter of things "being made that way."  It is a matter of people refusing to accept how things are made.  Like Milton's Satan, it is easier to imagine reigning in hell than serving in heaven.  It is frightening how often we choose to reject the good news of God's love and power made plain and certain in Jesus and embrace a world of mere survival and filling our stomachs.

This wrongness that I run across every day is not what started everything.  This ruin that has occurred could not be what brought everything into being.  Neither will this wrongness finish everything, either.  This is good news.  What I see every day is not what has always been, nor what will always be.  It is a small interruption in something that has no beginning and no end.  Goodness only ends when evil comes.  Goodness and the pleasure of goodness is infinite.  Evil is temporary and fleeting.

God does not remain silent.  He spoke everything into existence.  His very Word that created the universe came and recreated what was broken in that universe.  Renewal is under way, beginning with the hearts and lives of his crowning creation.  It will be completed with all things being made new.  God does not remain silent.  His Word is the final Word.

Lord, I feel myself falling into a pit as I listen to most people talk, including myself.  Faith is forgotten.  Hope is distant.  Love is cold.  But you speak and I am saved.  I praise you.  Amen.


The main thing is not straining my ears to hear God, but unplugging my ears.  C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters that the devil is not so much trying to put things into my mind as much as keep things out.  I want to take more time to just listen.