Day 6

“Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.” 1 Chronicles 16:27

Think about these description words.

Splendor: magnificence, sumptuousness, grandeur, impressiveness, resplendence, opulence, luxury, richness, fineness, lavishness, ornateness, glory, beauty, elegance

Majesty: regal, lofty, or stately dignity; imposing character; grandeur; majesty of bearing; supreme greatness or authority; sovereignty

This is God’s home we’re talking about… his dwelling place.

And yet God didn’t send his son Jesus to a palace. God sent Jesus to a filthy stinking stable.

That’s a little upside down, isn’t it?

In all Jesus’s ministry, there is not record of him behaving as a king such as wearing a crown or a regal robe. The only time, he was treated that way, was when the soldiers mocked him at his crucifixion. Do you wonder what Jesus’s thoughts were? Did he think back to his heavenly home, the luxury, the majesty that were once his?

I don’t know what kind of home you came from. But if you are a Christian, I know what home you are going to live in for eternity. Look again at the above adjectives. Splendor and majesty… and strength and joy…

For now we, live like Jesus did when he was on earth. We function in a upside down kingdom where it is better to serve than to serve. Where those who are first here will be last in heaven and the first in heaven will be those who were last and least here on earth.

God sees everything. One of his names is, El Rohoi, or the God who sees. And the God who is enthroned in glorious joy and splendor, and majesty, and strength will reward all unselfish service done in his name.

Are you growing weary of serving? Are you enduring, to the point it hurts? Are you feeling your work is ignored or that all you do is unseen by anyone? That your life is just poured out like a drink?

Think again, God sees, and one day he will reward all those who have served him, through serving even the least of these.

Prayer: God sometimes I just need fresh perspective. I need to realize you are at work all over the place, that you see my work… that you know my name, that you are aware of my struggles to please you.

Sometimes the weight of this world weighs me down. When I feel the desire to please people, and be esteemed by people, and impress them…remind me of who you are. Remind me of whose I am.

Remind me that you see my hard work. Remind me you care. Remind me you will reward me. And remind me that sometimes the most mundane of tasks are preparing me for things I may not know about yet, things I would never imagine. Remind me that one day, I will take my place in your great household of the faithful. And I will experience the reward for my labor. Help me know, as the Bible says, that my troubles down here are really achieving for me an eternal reward that outdoes anything I might go through down here, on this earth. And Jesus, on the hardest of days, when I feel bent out of shape with inconvenience, my body is hurting, my pride has splinters, remind me of your presence, and that you came down to earth, and that you are here with me through your precious Holy Spirit. Amen.