Behold

​“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” 
 
What comes to mind when you hear behold? I know for me, I envision something marvelous, beautiful, something that is absolutely astonishing!
 
Here in Jeremiah 32:27, God directs us to BEHOLD! But then he goes on to define who he is! He states clearly that he is the LORD, the God of all flesh. Just hearing that he is LORD is enough to make me pause in my tracks, but the God of all flesh! I don’t know about you, but all flesh to me automatically brings pictures of every type of person to mind. God is saying very clearly that everyone belongs to him!
 
But did you catch what he asks, “Is there anything too hard for me?” My immediate response is NO, absolutely not! After all, God created the Heavens and the Earth! Imagine this, Proverbs 8:27-29, says, “I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so that waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.” 
 
WOW! Just WOW! “…he gave the sea its boundary so that waters would. Not overstep his command…” I love the water. Every spring my husband and I take a trip to Hilton Head Island. We always stay at the same resort and we make sure each year to slip away for a walk on the beach. 
 
Standing before the ocean and looking at it in all of its splendor I just feel so small yet, so special all at the same time. Special because it never ceases to amaze me that a God who commands the seas also considers me!
 
Great right? Sounds like this girl has it all together. RIGHT…
 
Remember that, is there anything too hard for me question, yeah, that one. Well, with the big things, I am good. God has it, because there is no way I can even conceive of how to handle it. You know the big things like, war and peace, world hunger, homelessness! But the other things, oh the other things. 
 
You know, things like illness and loss of Family and friends, work situations, finances, worrying about the young adults we call children. The list goes on and on. These things I seem to always want to hold on to. I will pray and give them over to God for a moment, a very brief moment, but then I find myself worrying about them or trying to handle them in my own way. I so easily forget that the same God who commands the mighty ocean waters to come just so far, is quite capable of handling the ins and outs of what I go through. 
 
What about you?  How are you doing with beholding, gazing upon God and recognizing him for all that he is? Are you able to pray and turn your cares over to God with the confidence that he can handle it or do you often find yourself becoming overwhelmed in your attempts to “take care of it” on your own?
 
I was sharing with one of my clients the importance of letting go and trusting God and she asked me, “how is it so easy for me to trust that everything will work out in the end?” My response to her was exactly what I will share with you today. 
 
It is not easy. It is a daily decision to BEHOLD. To behold even when it seems as if there is nothing to behold. I do this in a very practical way. I pray continually, even when it is hard, even when it hurts for the words to come out, I pray. I practice daily, an exercise called Three Blessings, where I end each day by writing down three ways that I saw God move in my life that day. I spend time each day reflecting on God’s footprints in my life. Those moments when there seemed no way and the ONLY WAY things could have turned around was because of God. I hold on to those times, trusting Romans 8:28 where Paul says, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
 
I am not perfect; I never claim to be. But I do believe in God’s promises and my encouragement to you, is no matter the situation, when it seems there is no way apply these very practical steps:

1. Give it to God in prayer.
2. End your day by writing out three ways you saw God move in your life that day.
3. Spend time daily reflecting on God’s footprints in your life.
4. Commit Romans 8:28 to memory and recall it whenever you begin to feel those little prickling of doubt setting in.

 

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