MY OWN EYES
Today's reading: Psalm 48-50

"We had heard of the city's glory, but now we have seen it ourselves--the city of the Lord Almighty. It is the city of our God; he will make it safe forever." Psalm 48:8 NLT

I am imagining Jerusalem in it's prime. I'm attempting to picture in my mind what it might have looked like to a gal from out of town who had heard, but never seen it...

The Temple bustling with people. The courtyards filled with the noises of the sacrifices. The streets crowded with folks determined to worship the Lord--in the way He asked them to. The families having made long journeys. The priests dressed in God's finest, the bells on their hems tinkling as they walked.

I can just see in my mind's eye the beauty of the Temple and of David's palace. The columns. The gold. The tapestries. The intricate carvings. The hewn stone blocks making up the foundation.

It's more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. It's grander than they could ever explain. It's more encompassing than they could have described.

The descriptions I'd heard seem lean and pale in comparison to the real thing.

It's more than I'd imagined.

Just like God.

He has been revealed to me in such ways that I'm overwhelmed. What I'd heard about Him seems like a poor description of who He really is. He is more, much more, than I'd ever dreamed.

Folks have attempted to describe His goodness to me--but until I tasted it, I never knew the depths.

I've been taught from childhood that He loves me--but until His love was all I had, I never grasped its capacity.

I'd been told His salvation offered freedom--but until I felt the chains fall off my heart and saw the cell door of my heart and life open, I never would have believed how wonderful it would be.

His mercy and grace have been referred to me as amazing--but to have experienced it time and time again, amazing seems like such an inadequate word.
 
I'm praying you see God in a new and personal way today!