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His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Ps. 147:10-11, NIV
Imagine as a parent you have had your three year-old proudly present you with their latest work of art. [Or perhaps you have been at a parent’s house when that happened.] All those squiggly lines and different colours may have confused you. You may have had to ask what it was a picture of only to be told as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. [Oh yes dear, I can clearly see that now.] Did you criticize your child for their lack of ability? Of course not. You encouraged them. You told them they had done a great job. And probably, like many parents, you put it on the fridge. You then proudly pointed it out to any neighbour or friend that happened to visit expecting them to admire your child’s great artistic effort and evidence of a future glorious career.
Even our greatest works and efforts are just squiggly lines to our heavenly Father. Yet He doesn’t condemn us or criticize us for not doing better. He looks at our heart and sees the loving flowing there. Then He takes our “great work of art” tapes it to His heavenly fridge and calls all His angels around. “Look what My son/daughter did. Isn’t great? Can’t you see their love and amazing potential!” The angels may look confused and wonder what it actually is a drawing of, but the Father is happy.
God is a Father, a Good, Loving Father. He is not looking for achievements. He is looking for relationship. He is not so concerned about whether we become the next Billy Graham or not. He doesn’t even need us. But He wants us and He loves working with us and through us. He looks to see if our actions come from a loving heart or from legalistic duty.
Father, thank You for Your love. Thank You that Your desire for me is to come into and live in Your presence. I give You all that I am and all that I do. To me it seems so much, but to You it is only squiggly lines and unconnected shapes. Yet You love it. Amazing. Post it on Your fridge and take delight in me. I will give my life to You and all my drawings. Your fridge never runs out of space! I will offer my “wonderful art work” to please You, because I love You and want to be a joy to You. If You take it and use it to inspire others, fine, if You keep it on Your fridge for Your enjoyment only that is also fine. It is Your desire that I desire.
Father, I am like a flower. Some flowers You cut, put in a vase and display for others to see Your handiwork. Other flowers live and die on the mountain side unseen by human eyes. Father, I love You. Whatever You have for me is good. If it is Your will that I bloom on the mountain side among a million other flowers and unseen by any eyes but Yours, I am content. My heart’s desire is to live in Your presence and bring delight to Your eyes. Thank You that I can do that anywhere, anytime. All I have to do is be myself, the self You created me to be. Bring me into a fuller understanding and experience of Your presence. Take joy in me.
In the Name of my precious Lord Jesus. Amen.
This short article is another of my crayon drawings. I hope you can see the picture I intend it to be. I know my Father can, and that is enough.
I do want to bring a little balance here. No article can cover all the aspects of a topic. I wanted to show how much the Father loves us and appreciates what we do for Him and with Him. However, I do not want to imply in any way that what we do is not important. As I have written elsewhere, God has given us responsibility for this planet and we are to work with Him and according to His law to bring everything under the Kingship of Jesus. Prayer and other activities we engage in are very important and have a great impact both in this world and the one that is to come. God bless.
For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.
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