Look! Listen! – The Kingdom Curriculum XV (6)

Look! Listen!

The great commandment

And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and the first commandment.” Matthew 22:37, 38

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

He’s Right There–Everywhere!

“This is My Father’s world; He shines in all that’s fair. In the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere.” We all know this lovely hymn, and perhaps sing it with gusto when it comes around in morning worship. But do we take seriously the words? Do we really believe that God is with us everywhere, shining in all the good gifts He bestows on men and the creation, and that He is ready to be discovered by those who are willing and able to search Him out?

As you go out this day, taking up your familiar routines, try to keep in mind the teaching of God’s Word that says He is revealing Himself to us in the things of creation, 24/7 (Ps. 19:1-4; Rom. 1:18-20). The glory of God–His unmistakable presence–is there, spread out in the trees and sky, the birds and grass, the breeze, the rain, and even in the faces of people we know and love (who are made in the image of God). The psalmist says that God “pours forth speech” in showing us His glory.

Think of the peacock, who unfurls his glorious tail, puffs up his chest, struts his little dance, and bristles his tail and chest feathers to get the attention of the hen. God is like that peacock, but all the time. He is beckoning us to seek Him in the things He has made. He’s in there, showing us His glory; most of the time we just aren’t paying attention. Either we don’t believe He’s in there, eager to show us His glory–and able to do so–or we’re just so distracted by everything else that we’d rather just gawk indifferently at created things, rather than gaze through them to discover the deeper glory that’s hidden there.

What would we be like if we were seeking God in these things? And how might this add to our ability constantly to seek the Lord with all our hearts?

Learn to love God more by meditating in His Law daily. You can order your copy of The Law of God today and take up this discipline with joy. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.