Wow, wow, wow! The second half of February involved about three million things, and it lasted about thirty seconds. Crazy. But I’m here now – thanks for sticking with me!
We sang a new song in church recently. It’s called Hallelujah Here Below by Elevation Worship, and the first verse goes like this.
We are an altar of broken stones
But You delight in the offering
You have the heavens to call Your home
But You abide in the song we singTen thousand angels surround Your throne
To bring You praise that will never cease
But hallelujah from here below
Is still Your favorite melody
My first thought when we sang that song was that it reminded me of one of my most prized possessions. Not jewelry, or money, or my favorite shoes, but a drawing my son made when he was about five or six years old. It features his then-favorite football player, LaDainian Tomlinson, and the words “Go LT!”
When Jacob drew that for me, I was impressed, though the drawing itself is not what one would call “impressive.” But it was the first time he put words and pictures together in a drawing. The figure is human-looking, and the colors were chosen to match reality. Jacob knew that I loved football, just as he did, and he chose the subject of his picture thoughtfully. (For some interesting reading about child development as seen through artistic development, click here)
The drawing will never hang in a museum, but it hung on my fridge for a while, and has hung inside one of my kitchen cabinets for over a decade (even through a remodel). Every time I see it, I think of the round-faced little boy who so proudly drew it for me. I remember how he went through a phase where he called me “Honey.” I remember the way he smelled as a baby, and how he would smile at me with his whole chubby face. Now that he’s in college on the other side of the country, those memories are more valuable than ever.
I love that drawing because it was a sincere gift and a sign of development from someone I love.
God feels the same way about us.
God owns everything. He created the universe. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere at once. He is far beyond what we can even understand. Yet He chooses to inhabit the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3). He chooses to use us even though we are weak, fragile, and imperfect (1 Cor. 1:18-31).
The song above says “We are an altar of broken stones.” That comes from a passage in Exodus 20, where God is instructing the Israelites about building the altar. Verses 24 and 25 read:
“An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.”
What the Lord is saying to Israel is that He isn’t looking for perfect. He’s satisfied to have us use earth and raw stone as the tools we use to worship Him. He’s looking for willing. He’s looking for that sincere gift that shows our development, and our love for Him.
Rest in that today. You don’t have to have it all figured out. God isn’t keeping His distance until you’re good enough. He delights in you, His child. (Psalm 149:4)
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