BEHOLD A MAN, BEHOLDING GOD!

( To gain a further understanding of the meditation that follows, a reading of the suggested scriptures will be most helpful)

Acts 16:19 – 34
Psalm 144: 1 – 15

He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge. Ps.144: 2

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake ..Acts 16:23

This Psalm is a moving expression of one individual’s discovery of the impact that God’s envisioned purpose makes upon life. So awe-inspiring is the vision of human life, which God reveals to him, that David is in a state of ecstatic disbelief. “Is it possible, that what he glimpses now is a plausible expectation of human life? ” What is man that You, God, care for him, or the son of man that You think of him? Can creatures whose days are like ‘a fleeting shadow, a mere breath,’ ever accomplish such magnificence, that will endure the test of time? Even though the Creator is the author of the brevity of human existence, nevertheless, He appoints humankind to an indispensable obligation in the unfoldment of His end plan for this world. We shall realize that the will which the Creator reveals to David, finds total consummation in the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.

The introductory verses of Psalm 144 will appear to many to be utterly devoid of any trace of religious piety. Here we learn that the impetus for David’s lavish praise of the Almighty is his belief that the Almighty has prepared his “hands for war, and his fingers for battle.” It must be unequivocal that David’s belief does not constitute, in any way, the approval of the Almighty to engage in war as the final resolution of difficult problems. David’s responsive psalm to God goes much deeper than that.
David realizes that the underlying dynamic of his life is an entrance into another stratum of reality, where his physical being is entirely understood and therefore equipped. The idioms of preparing the hands for war and the fingers for battle would be commonplace among an ancient nomadic race where the survival of the fittest is a daily consideration. But how empowering is the belief that humans can, generally speaking, find an open door, which by entering, they can acquire preparation for the tasks which everyday living presents? David, in Psalm 144, reveals that in finding ‘ the door,’leading into a stratum beyond that which is purely physical, he was being accessed by a force of unconditional love, in preparation for tasks yet to be.
Andrea  Bocelli,  an Italian classical tenor, selling more than 80 million records worldwide, attests to the brilliant success of an outstanding artist. In 1998, Bocelli was named ‘one of “PEOPLE’S” 50 most beautiful people.
Sometime before his birth, Andrea’s mother, Edi, suffering from appendicitis, sought medical attention. It was at this time that Mrs. Bocelli received advice from her doctor to abort the fetus which she was carrying at the time, because of substantial evidence that the child would be born with a disability. Andrea’s mother refused the advice. Sometime later the child was born with a severe vision defect. By the time he celebrated his 12th birthday, Andrea Bocelli was entirely blind.
Bocelli is a devout Catholic whose faith informs many – if not most – aspects of his life.
” Faith holds first place in my life.
I do not think anyone can ever do
anything without the help and will
of God.”(2)

Millions, the world over are enraptured by the sound of that magnificent voice singing:
‘ Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found;
was blind but now I see.”(3)

There is another truth needing an emphasis here. It is this; Every individual who successfully finds access to that ‘ other strata’ of existence, and thereby sees God, leaves the influence of that encounter as a blessing in the world, even after they depart hence and are no more.
This world is not a solid orb drifting aimlessly in uncharted space. It more resembles a honeycomb, whose interior is housing undeniable evidence that God always finds the right solution to fulfill His will for individuals, and His purpose for this world. This world is being made a better place because of the permanent effects left behind any person’s encounter with the living God, whether one realizes it or not. That is a part of the divine mystery of God’s unconditional love.
Neither is this earth, to recall a phrase of the poet, George MacDonald, ” a place of tombs.” (3)The earth is not a place where human frailties and disabilities inter our fondest dreams and highest hopes. If instead, we find here on earth “a fortress, a stronghold, and a loving God,” as David did, then we experience victory for ourselves, and renewed hope for the world. There is no frailty or disability in the experience of any human that can diminish the willingness and the power of God to affect. God’s presence prepares David’s physical body to meet the challenges that his present situation demands, and you are no different, and the promise is no less sure. Is it fading memory? slowing footsteps? dimming vision? – Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

The whole of the Old Testament and David, himself, are but shadows of the revelation that Jesus more perfectly completes. Jesus demonstrates this truth that George MacDonald so eloquently expresses: ” this earth is not a place of tombs.” The only people who find it so, are those who have forgotten, or perhaps have never known, that God is not finished with us yet! And that is precisely why God raised Jesus from the dead! Behold men, who Behold God! They are never defeated! On they go from strength to strength!

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
No prison wall is thick enough to keep You away from me, O Loving God; no binding chains are strong enough to shackle the eagle within me, from soaring above the thunder clouds to find You.
I have seen that in the darkest night You surround us with examples of other humans, who are leaving Heaven’s door ajar, inviting us to share in their victory and find restoration in You.
( 4)Peter and Silas were in a dark Roman dungeon. They were wounded and bleeding, the victims of violent injustice. Father, how mightily You trained them and equipped them for that offensive hour. There  must have been a chorus of Angels on hand to strengthen the sounds of praising and singing issuing from that inner dungeon. Prepare us, Lord, so that in our most hopeless situations the victory that always comes from You, will be a true celebration. If we live in You, we will keep rising from the dead. Amen.

 

Hymn:                   Amazing Grace – Andrea Bocelli

Editorial  Notes
1. Here and elsewhere throughout this text,
all quotes from THE HOLY BIBLE are
from the NEW INTERNATIONAL
TRANSLATION, (NIV)
2. Andrea Bocelli. Quoted in an article: Andrea
Bocelli – Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bocelli
3.George MacDonald in ” A Prayer for the Past

www.online-literature.com › George MacDonald
4. Reference: Acts 16: 19 – 34 .in #1 abov

Photo: Taken from our son-in-law’s yacht  – somewhere in Notre-Dame Bay , Newfoundland, August 2017