God Desires What…?
I would like to explain something about what I believe; I call it a foundational truth. You can find Jesus talking about something extremely similar in the Gospels of Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:48-49. I look at this like building a house. You want to make sure you have a good foundation that will be able to withstand the pressure of all the remaining materials that will be built upon it. And, you also want to make sure the foundation is sound and sturdy to withstand anything that comes against the house as a whole once it is completed.
Of all the lessons I have learned I can sum them up into two lessons: (1) God desires us, you and me; He desires our presence just as much as we truly need His presence, and (2) we truly are worth the price of Who was sacrificed. I believe there are multiple levels to these two lessons, and thinking back now, it feels like every time Papa helps me learn something new, it seems to be a newer, deeper, more rich part of these two lessons.
(1) First thing to know – Papa desires relationship with us:
If you go back to the beginning and look in chapter one of the book of Genesis, you will find the account of creation from the very beginning through the end of day six. Day one is the creation of time, where God separates light from dark, calling each respectively day and night. Day two finds Him creating the sky separating out the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth. On the third day Papa caused the waters of the earth to flow together which allowed the ground to appear and subsequently vegetation coming about as well. Papa decided to further define time on day four by creating the sun, moon, and stars, asserting that specific arrangement of each made seasons, as well as adding additional light to the earth. On day five Papa creates birds for the sky, sea-dwelling fish and other sea-creatures, as well as other creeping and crawling animals on the ground. Day six is designated for the creation of all land animals and livestock as well as man. And finally, on the seventh day, Papa saw everything that was created, declared everything He created as good and then He rested.
In the ‘good book’ you will read, “1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” However, in my mind, this is how I see it:
Holy Spirit, God and Jesus are sitting around the living room at home. Jesus is on the floor messing around with a deck of cards. God is in His favorite chair a little out of sorts because He cannot get in to the book He just picked up to read. He can barely bring Himself to open the cover?! Holy Spirit just poured a refreshing glass of tea for everyone and checked the temperature, wanting to make sure everyone is comfortable. Suddenly God has the beginnings of a plan formulating in His mind. The living room is as silent and still as one would imagine outer space to be. As they are all the same person, Jesus feels the excitement start to build as the formulations of this plan begin to tingle in His mind’s eye, and Holy Spirit feels the well-spring of creativity begin to surge forth. Just as the tingling in Jesus’s mind gets to be too much, and all that creativity is about to burst through Holy Spirit, God says: “Let there be light.” He looks to Holy Spirit and Jesus as they all smile at each other in confirming approval. All Three look at each other with eyes welling up for the excitement and love that has just burst forth, as the plan has taken form and was just released in those words.
THE EYES OF GOD
One day several years ago I was having a particularly bad day. I cannot remember exactly what was wrong, or what I thought was wrong, but I remember being a little more emotional than usual. For me specifically, when I would get more emotional, I would tend to lose that connection with Holy Spirit, my defenses would tend to drop, and it would be easier for ungodly thoughts about myself to arise in my mind. This was a major point of contention within myself and in my relationship with God. I know I could feel Him considerably less, and these thoughts would almost overwhelm me beyond my ability to stand it.
Nevertheless, before I digress any further…on this particular bad day, I was in conversation with Papa and He brought back to me Genesis 2:7, “Then the LordGod formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” (NLT) God told me to close my eyes and relax. With every breath I breathed in, I was to breathe in the idea of Him getting closer and closer to me, and with every breath I breathed out, I was to breathe out the lies and ideas that did not line up with what He said and thought about me. During that time with Him, with my eyes still closed, I could actually feel His presence as He approached me. I could feel His breath as He was close enough to me as I imagine He was to Adam in the above verse. I could feel His refreshing Breath of Life sweep out those ungodly thoughts that I had allowed inside my mind, and the truth of what He thought about me began to flood my mind, heart and spirit. I was softly weeping as I felt I was melting into a puddle as He infused me with His Love.
Suddenly I had the thought of Adam laying there feeling that refreshing wind and being inundated with the Love of his Creator. Then Adam opened his eyes and the very first thing he saw was the eyes of Papa God, the eyes with a never-ending, unimaginable Love. Those eyes looking back knowing that what He was looking at was very good; looking back in the silent pride that a Father has while watching His son slowly wake up. Then, with my eyes still closed, the scene had changed and it was as if I was Adam laying there. It was as if I was looking into the eyes of Papa God! What a sight! I had no more room in my mind for anything less than what my Creator thought of me!
Taken from “Prince of Peace Portrait of Jesus” by Akiane Kramarik
It is my belief that after Papa breathed His breath of life into Adam, that as He slowly backed away as Adam was coming to and waking up, that as He saw the Love echoed back to Him in Adam’s eyes as well, Papa did not just simply decide to be finished, that “everything was very good and I am done!” No! I believe that seeing His own feeling reflected back and assigned to Him as another to be Loved as well, His heart was fulfilled; He was satisfied; There was no more reasons to continue on with creation.
Think about it in terms of mealtime. You sit down with friends and/or family and the most delicious meal you can think of, and that you have been looking forward to this meal for a while as well. You have been anticipating the company, the food, the atmosphere, everything! You sit down and you enjoy everything. Everything is perfectly cooked and seasoned. In this situation not a single thing could be changed because everything is matching up to all of your expectations. At some point during this meal, you are fulfilled. At some point you have to go home. At some point the experience has to end. You cannot keep eating…If you did you risk some serious side effects, being uncomfortable, and possibly ruining the experience. It is my opinion that Papa had the same experience. He knew when He needed to stop. He knew when He would be fulfilled: when there was someone who could return intentional love back to Him. Papa desires relationship, and He desires relationship with you and me.
From Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam”
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