God With Us - STILL?

"What, then, is the God I worship? ... You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present among us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring; and yet we cannot comprehend you." -St. Augustine

Isaiah 7:14
"All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means 'God is with us')." (NLT)

When the virgin gave birth to this Son, Immanuel was finally present among us, yet in so many ways he was still hidden from us. Romans 11:33 says, "Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!"

Have you ever wondered why God would want to live among us and even within us, when we cannot fully comprehend him? Only love create this desire within the great God we love and serve. For only love could write this story.

If you've ever gone to live in a foreign country, you've known the temporary loneliness and frustration of living among people who can't fully understand you. I've only been to Mexico. That was bad enough. Leaving the culture where we fit is hard yet, in spite of the hardship, it was often eased with the knowledge that one day would come and eventually all would be fully understood. You and they would be able to share in the cultural experience.

1 Corinthians 13:12 promises a day when we will no longer see through imperfect eyes: "Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."

Immanuel stepped out of eternity and into history. Jesus was God incarnate. In other words, Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus' birth was to bring clarity to us and for us. Could it be that Immanuel—God With Us—is looking forward to that day just as much as we are, that day when we see him with perfect clarity and know him completely? Thus, we strive for excellent worship because He is an excellent God. We serve to please Him, because He came to serve us. We study His Word for a better knowledge of "who" God is so that we might have a clearer vision of the God we love.

God with us and yes, He is still with us. "Lord, open my eyes so I may see glimpses of truth you have for me. Help me recognized that you are with us and I surrender myself to your touch of clarity. Amen."

You know I love ya - Don