Sam StormsOne of today’s readings in ‘Cover to Cover’ was Psalm 25 and number of things stood out to me as I read.
It starts: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God”
and it continues: “you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.”
It states: “you are good, O Lord”
and ends: “My eyes are ever on the Lord” and “my hope is in you.”
It was a reminder to me, that whatever my circumstances, my eyes should be on the Lord.
I then went on to read a page or two in Sam Storm’s book “One thing – Developing a passion for the Beauty of God.”
He writes that we were made to be:
Enchanted…enamoured…engrossed with God
Enthralled…enraptured…entranced with God
Enravished…excited…enticed with God
Astonished…amazed…awed with God
Astounded…absorbed…agog with God
Beguiled and bedazzled
Startled and staggered
Smitten and stunned
Stupefied and spellbound
Charmed and consumed
Thrilled and thunderstruck
Obsessed and preoccupied
Intrigued and impassioned
Overwhelmed and overwrought
Gripped and rapt
Enthused and electrified
Tantalized, mesmerised and monopolised
Fascinated, captivated, intoxicated, infatuated and exhilarated…with God!
He goes on to say this:
“I often try to envision what my life would be like if this were an accurate description of my relationship with God. I suspect I would find it much more difficult to sin than I now do. I imagine that reading the Bible would never be remotely boring. I trust that I would display an uncommon boldness and courage in sharing Christ with my unsaved neighbours. I believe I would be less enamoured with the glamour of Hollywood and the allure of Wall Street and find that generosity for those in need would come far more easily than it does today. And I am certain that my worship would be theologically precise, physically expressive, emotionally intense, and filled with passion, intimacy, and an extravagance like that of Mary’s when she poured the alabaster vial of expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus.”
Too often we focus our attention on ourselves and our activities – on what we are doing for God and trying harder to do things for God, when really we should focus our attention on our relationship with God, on keeping the first commandment, of lifting up our soul to God, of keeping our eyes upon Him, of developing a passion for the beauty of God.
It starts: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God”
and it continues: “you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.”
It states: “you are good, O Lord”
and ends: “My eyes are ever on the Lord” and “my hope is in you.”
It was a reminder to me, that whatever my circumstances, my eyes should be on the Lord.
I then went on to read a page or two in Sam Storm’s book “One thing – Developing a passion for the Beauty of God.”
He writes that we were made to be:
Enchanted…enamoured…engrossed with God
Enthralled…enraptured…entranced with God
Enravished…excited…enticed with God
Astonished…amazed…awed with God
Astounded…absorbed…agog with God
Beguiled and bedazzled
Startled and staggered
Smitten and stunned
Stupefied and spellbound
Charmed and consumed
Thrilled and thunderstruck
Obsessed and preoccupied
Intrigued and impassioned
Overwhelmed and overwrought
Gripped and rapt
Enthused and electrified
Tantalized, mesmerised and monopolised
Fascinated, captivated, intoxicated, infatuated and exhilarated…with God!
He goes on to say this:
“I often try to envision what my life would be like if this were an accurate description of my relationship with God. I suspect I would find it much more difficult to sin than I now do. I imagine that reading the Bible would never be remotely boring. I trust that I would display an uncommon boldness and courage in sharing Christ with my unsaved neighbours. I believe I would be less enamoured with the glamour of Hollywood and the allure of Wall Street and find that generosity for those in need would come far more easily than it does today. And I am certain that my worship would be theologically precise, physically expressive, emotionally intense, and filled with passion, intimacy, and an extravagance like that of Mary’s when she poured the alabaster vial of expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus.”
Too often we focus our attention on ourselves and our activities – on what we are doing for God and trying harder to do things for God, when really we should focus our attention on our relationship with God, on keeping the first commandment, of lifting up our soul to God, of keeping our eyes upon Him, of developing a passion for the beauty of God.
2 comments:
Hi Leslie,
excellent stuff, have you heard Sam Storms at the Desiring God conference a couple of years ago? Jonathan Edwards and the beautific vision, can it get any better?
Shalom
Stephen
hi Stephen,
Heard Sam a few times - Life in the Spirit conferences and at WIEC a few weeks ago.
Just finished the book I referred to - thinking of writing a review.
Piper's comment is: The more I ponder the source and ground of all our lasting joy, the more convinced I am that Sam Storms is right. It's the beauty of God.
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