All Praise

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5 NIV

Have you ever swam underwater with goggles?

I’ll never forget the first time I did it. Growing up in Florida, I was in the water more than dry land, it seemed. We were coastal kids. Pools, lakes, and ocean fronts were our playground. One summer afternoon, my dad came through the door with a few pairs of goggles. Not the Olympic swimmer kind that look like glasses from the future (or maybe the past). These were the ones that covered your whole face with a snorkel strapped to the side. He tossed them to my brother, sister, and me, and we all made a mad dash for the pool. With the goggles “suctioned cupped” to my face, I jumped. My body took its’ instinctual cannonball shape, and before I knew it, I was underwater. I had done this thousands of times before, but this time it was different. I could see. Clear as day. It was a whole new world. Well, it had always been there, but now I could see it.

Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, “The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you.” Luke 17: 20-21 MSG

The kingdom of God is what Jesus spent most of His time talking about. And according to Him, it is here. RIGHT NOW. But oftentimes, like these Pharisees, we see what we want to see, don’t we? I know I do. Here’s the thing, the ministry of Jesus wasn’t about giving us 20/20 vision. It was about giving us sight. Jesus was trying to teach us to partner with God’s eyes. He was trying to wake us up to a whole new way of thinking, seeing, living, and perceiving. Maybe the sacredness of something is only limited by our ability to see it. Maybe instead of looking for what’s not here, we should stare long enough to see what’s actually here. If we have anything to learn from the Pharisees, it’s that we can stare God in the face and have absolutely no idea we are doing so.

As followers of Jesus, we don’t get to know the details of every chapter of this story, but we do get to know the ending.

In case you need a refresher on the plot line, the arc of redemption is long, but it ends in glory! So, the way we view our life right now has got to be informed by where we believe this is all going. You see, Jesus wasn’t only trying to get you into heaven, He was also trying to get heaven into you.

Why should my heart grow weary? / Don’t be so downcast o my soul

You are in every moment / You are my greatest miracle