Looking again at those words, ‘With you is the fountain of Life; in your light do we see light.’ Psalm 36:9, I am thinking that there is probably no more important aspect of our lives where we need to ‘see’ with God’s light, than in how we see ourselves now that we are ‘new creatures in Christ’. Now in case that seems overly self-centered, let us have a look at one or two people who actually needed to ‘see’ themselves with all the light that God could give them, and then I think we may realise just how important this aspect of ‘seeing’ correctly can be.
Starting with Moses we have a man who, having totally messed up in Egypt in his youth, (see Exodus 2:11-21), was not about to raise his hand and rush into volunteering for the huge task of meeting up with Pharaoh, (the most powerful ruler in the known world at that time) in order to secure the release of his people from slavery. God however sees Him very differently to how he assesses himself!
Moses protests to God four times that He has got the wrong man. The protests range from ‘Who am I to do this?’ to ‘Who are you? Who is it who is sending me? I don’t know enough about you to do this for you’, on to ‘What if the Israelites won’t believe me?’ (Fair question given that he hadn’t been home for forty years), and then finally, ‘I’m not very good with words, please send someone else.’ Exodus 3:11-4:13. The problem was Moses was not ‘seeing’ what God was seeing, and he nearly missed his life calling and destiny.
Then we have the twelve men who were the ‘designated prospectors’ of the land of Canaan. They went in to the land and saw both the succulent fruit, and the enemy who occupied it. Exodus 13:27-33. They saw the blessings and the strength of the opposition. Ten of those men never entered the Promised Land because, ‘We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.’ Two men, Joshua and Caleb, said “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” Those two men, who knew that God saw them as victors living in ‘The Promised Land’, believed that they ‘could do it’, and even though they had to wait a long time, until they were eighty in fact, they got to fulfill the call of God on their lives big time. [All recorded for us in the Book of Joshua.]
And what about Gideon? He starts his conversation with the Lord by declaring himself to be, ‘the least in my family’, who by the way are the ‘weakest of all the clans of Manasseh.’ Judges 6:15. He only gains his courage when the Lord lets him hear what the Midianites are saying about him. Interpreting his own dream the Midianite says, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands”. On ‘seeing’ it all God’s way Gideon rushes back, galvanizes his own troops, and crying “Watch me….. Follow my lead”, he leads them into a miraculous victory. He became the ‘Mighty Warrior’, that God had told him he was. It’s well worth a read. Judges 7:12-25.
Finally let’s look at King Saul, and the first suggestion we have that his view of himself was poor, is at his coronation! They couldn’t find him and the Lord had to tell them prophetically “He has hidden himself among the baggage.” 1 Samuel 10:22. Apparently he was a head taller than anyone else, and Samuel declared that there was “no one like him among all the people”, yet he still did not have the confidence to be the leader that God wanted. When he messes up later on he confesses, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your (Samuel’s) instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave into them.” 1 Samuel 15:24. He too had way too small a view of himself, and it led to trouble.
If we are going to live our ‘new life in Christ’ the way that the Lord wants us to, we need to ‘see’ ourselves the way He now sees us. That means we aren’t allowed to write ourselves off, or put ourselves down. We need to ‘agree’ with what He says about us. This leads to faith, not arrogance or pride, because we know that all that we now are, and all that we are becoming, is because of His grace, favour and presence in our lives. Therefore when He calls me to do something I can’t let the size of the task, the size of the obstacles that I see, my skill set, my age, or even the size of my past failures determine how I view myself or my ability to do what He asks.
If I receive, even write down and record, those words that I believe He has spoken into my heart, I will be living ‘by every word that proceeds from His mouth’. Matthew 4:4. As I live thanking God, for how He sees me and what He thinks I can do by His grace, that seals my agreement with Him and releases my faith to follow Him wherever He leads. I think we all know how discouraging it can be when we give someone a compliment and they just brush it off. Well let’s not do that with God. Receiving His words to me, and about me, with thanksgiving, enables me to walk by His light, and not mine. After all He knows far better than me the power of the Holy Spirit who is now at work in me. Ephesians 3:20.
