Have you ever seen one of those sunrises or sunsets when bright yellow rays are just shooting up from the sun and filling the sky? There’s almost a vibrant pulsing as the sun displays it’s gorgeous array of colors- it’s so glorious that you just can’t help but take notice.
That’s kind of what I picture when I think of the word “radiant.” Psalm 34:5 is a verse that’s been on my heart lately- and guess what it says? “Those who look to Him are radiant.” Wow. Can you imagine? My first thought was, “I want that!” And maybe that was born from a desire to be some gorgeously shining super model or something. But seriously, I don’t think anyone would say that they don’t want to be radiant, whatever that looks like. And I don’t pretend to know exactly how that plays out. But I do know one thing: If we want to be radiant, we have to look to Him. As I was thinking and meditating on this verse, I was kind of struck with the language that the Psalmist chose- and I felt 3 pretty big truths that God was revealing through this verse because of the specific words that were put there. 1. Looking to him involves knowledge. It’s a knowledge of who He is, and a knowledge of who we are. I kind of wonder how this verse would sound if it talked about those who look towards God, or in his general direction, rather than right to Him. It would almost be easier that way. Think about it. We all know that person who’s way prettier, way more talented, way more popular, way more mature, et cetera, than ourselves. And honestly, (at least for girls), we don’t want to spend a whole lot of time with that person. We’d rather glance in their general direction and quickly look away, because to be honest, it’s just uncomfortable to compare ourselves to them. How much more so with God! Y’all, we can’t look right to God, face him head on, without being blown away with the knowledge of his goodness. His holiness. His perfection. His righteousness. His might. And in comparison, being blown away with the knowledge of our own complete wretchedness and sin! Isaiah talks about how even our righteous acts are like filthy rags, and they sweep us away like the wind. (Isaiah 64:6). Looking to him means confronting and accepting God’s identity and being, knowing who he is, and realizing who we are in light of that. We can’t look to him without coming to the realization of his character. But praise God, he is more than just a perfect being out there somewhere. 2. Looking to him involves confidence. Isn’t it interesting that the verse refers to those who look to God rather than for Him? A couple days ago I spent nearly 5 minutes searching the house for my mom because (obviously) I didn’t know where she was. There was an uncertainty involved. But looking to God implies a complete confidence in 2 things: First of all that he exists, that he’s there in the first place. That’s a pretty basic truth from scripture. But second of all, it implies confidence that he’s near- something that for me is so much harder to grasp. Sometimes it’s easy for us to start viewing our relationship with the Creator like Michelangelo’s famous painting, The Creation of Adam, where Adam stretches out his finger to God but can’t quite reach him. It can feel like we’re praying, we’re calling, we’re asking, we’re reaching out, but for some reason God isn’t responding- we can’t quite reach him. Y’all, the truth is that God is near to us. We don’t have to struggle to reach him because “…he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27). That’s good news! Our God in heaven has adopted us as his own children, and now we call him “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). He LONGS to connect with his children! We can come to him with complete confidence that he loves us, that he is near to us, and that desires to speak with us and hear our voice. We have access to his throne 24/7- he’s never too busy, never too tired. 1 John 5:14 tells us that he hears us. Praise God that he is a good father to his children and we can have the joy of looking to him, rather than searching for him. 3. Looking to him involves trust. This kind of stems from the last two. Once we know who God is, and we’re confident in his presence, we are able to fully trust his love and look to him for leading. Not at him. It’s not that we just see him, and that’s the end of it. We are actively choosing to look to him for our guidance. What does that mean? Sometimes I look to my mom for help with a project. Maybe I look to my dad for advice in a specific situation. I might look to my teacher to explain an assignment, or to my drama director to help me prepare for the show. I could look to my youth pastor to explain the scriptures, or to my soccer coach to evaluate my skills. In all of these situations, I’m putting my trust in a certain person to help me in some way. It’s a similar thing with God, but looking to God is not qualified. The scripture doesn’t say “look to God for comfort” or “look to God for healing” or “look to God for blessing,” although we do all of these things. It says look to God. That’s it. No qualifier. It’s because we don’t look to God for a specific thing, but in all things- in all circumstances. He is all powerful! He is all knowing! He is all loving! He is totally capable and thus deservers our total trust. I look to God in all things because I know him- I know he knows the end from the beginning, I am confident in his love for me, and I trust his plan. I make mistakes- He never does. And that’s what it all comes down to. When we look to God, it involves a knowledge of his total supremacy and transcendence, but also a confidence that he’s near, because he loves us- and an absolute trust in his ability and goodness. And when we have those things, when every aspect of our life is touched by our knowledge of God, our confidence in his love, and our trust in his plan- Y’all, that’s when we’ll be radiant.
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AuthorHey, I'm Caelan! I'm a sophomore at Baylor University and love life and the world God has created for us to explore through learning, the arts, and the outdoors. But most of all, I seek to know HIM. Psalm 34:5 says that those who look to God are radiant. I desire to shine the radiance and glory of the Father, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Soli Deo Gloria Archives
November 2019
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