Maybe it's because I've raised a family
of poker enthusiasts that references to the game have come up a lot
in my conversations with God of late. While not a gambler in any
sense of the word, I'm willing to bet it hasn't happened by chance.
On a recent morning I was driving to
town, and spread before me was a scene of magnificent beauty in the
skies. The dark clouds on the horizon were pierced with shafts of
light that spilled sunshine through the gray curtain that still hid
the sun from view. A huge fan of sunbeams, I delighted in the sight,
and knew that God was waiting in the wings of His stage in the
heavenlies to see if I noticed the gift He had placed in my way.
I wonder if my response surprised Him
as much as it did me. I said, “I see You, God, and I raise You
five.” Then I lifted my left hand off the steering wheel, raised my
hand high in praise and waved my five fingers before Him in worship.
What?!
We both laughed. It was simply a wonderful way to start the day.
Since then it's become a catch phrase between us, a way to tell God
that I have seen and received a particular grace or gift from His
hand, a personalized way to simply say thanks.
Saying “I'll see you and raise you”
in response to a poker hand means that you accept the bet that is on
the table and are raising it a stated amount. Outside of the game,
the phrase is used when attempting to one-up a statement made by
someone with a response of one's own.
Surely there is no way to match what
God lays on the table before us each day, let alone improve on it in
any way. All we can do is respond to what we see around us by calling
it out specifically before Him and responding with praise and
thanksgiving for the offering. Of course, it's easy to see God's hand
in moments of beauty as described above; much more difficult when the
goodness of God is hidden by difficulty or trouble of some kind.
In sending a card to a friend recently,
I wrote that our hopes for the early Spring now seemed buried in a
succession of February snowstorms, as surely as the crocuses she said
were blooming in her backyard were now covered in a blanket of winter
white. And likewise sometimes our hopes for seeing God come through
in the serious life situations we are dealing with get buried in a
barrage of in circumstances beyond our control. Hope, faith and
belief in the goodness of God are lost to sight in the snowdrifts of
doubt the devil loves to dump on us. We spend all our time trying to
dig our way out, when our hearts should be looking for the Son to
rise in their midst and simply melt them all away.
The answers we need come easy to an
almighty God. It's the believing Him for them that is hard. Holding
on to our faith in the goodness of God when there is no physical
evidence in of the same in the circumstances surrounding us is
immensely difficult. How awesome it would be for God to see me raise
my hand in praise on a day when I didn't see the sky lit up
with shafts of lights...when the dark clouds around me were instead
just gray and heavy and menacing. What if I picked the moment when
trouble is pressing in to say, “I'm raising my praise and my level
in faith in You, because I know my troubles are no match for Your
power”? Faith like that shoots light through the darkness and
causes God to see and raise
His hand in action, blessing us beyond our wildest imaginings.
..to the point that we don't even care about the situation at hand
anymore, so taken are with by the new level of relationship we've
found through it with Him.
As I slipped the card I was writing in
the envelope, my eye caught sight of the the word “Spring” in the
embossed DaySpring logo likewise just barely visible in the
surrounding white paper. May the springtime my heart is longing for
likewise be ever visible to the eyes of my spirit, despite the white
of the current snow, causing my lips to say, “I see You, God, and I
raise my praise.”
“Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
(Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
Gosh, your posts always astound me. I am awed by your faith, time and time again. What a beautiful tribute to the importance of gratitude and hope.
ReplyDeleteCarrie, you have been my writing inspiration for years upon years. I am grateful that you are still reading and wrote such a thoughtful comment. Thank you for making my day. :)
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