You Should See the View

In my wife's last post from Jerusalem she recounted her final reflections in Jerusalem intermixed with a worship song by David Crowder called, "Only You". She mentioned a line from the song that I never noticed before that completely grabbed a hold of me. The line is at the end of the song and it says, "I will worship you Lord, Only You Lord... Its only you and me here now... You should see the view, when its only me and you".
The line, "You should see the view, when its only me and you" is such a great reminder to take time to get away from all of the "to do" lists, the wants, the stresses, and even your favorite past-times to sit and "see the view" of God in all of His majesty. This doesn't mean to go hide in the mountains for a few days or to travel to the beach at sunset to see the view, it simply means to take a moment to sit back and notice how a God that is so big and powerful can actually love you in all of your "humanness". He sees our selfishness, our doubts, our rage, our envy, and our arrogance and he takes it all with patience and extends love and grace. When we step outside of ourselves for a moment and gaze upon anyone who takes all of our worst and does not give us what we deserve it is truly an amazing site.
Now that my family is back in America we are faced with more unknowns that we ever had in Israel. We are heading into an adventure we never thought we would head into and one that only God knows how it will all turn out. In the midst of this time we feel small, faithless, insecure, unqualified, and unworthy. Maybe this is how Peter felt after he denied knowing Christ before his crucifixion, or how Paul felt when he realized the gravity of his hateful acts directed against followers of Jesus before his conversion, or even how Abraham must have felt when God told him to gaze upon the stars and know that God will be faithful to all that he promised. I imagine the view at that point must have been amazing when each of these people recognized that their God's love never ends, His mercy never tires, and His promises never fail.
Last week my heart dropped when Israel, along with this chapter in our lives, faded in the distance out of the window of our plane. On the horizon was a world of unknowns that will test our faith, our loyalty, and our certainty of all of God's promises. But also on the horizon is the most amazing view and that is of the Risen Messiah who restores when I doubt, who repairs when I fail, and who leads into the future when I am stuck in the past.
In the moments when I take the time to open my eyes and gaze upon this God, I am amazed at what I see.