We "live and move and have our being" in God. He gives to us "life and breath and all things." If we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has entered the very depths of our being by His indwelling Spirit.
Still, even the godliest among us would say that in comparison to the fact of our Lord's reality, their experience of it is a mere pittance of the possibility. The Apostle Paul said that "we see through a glass darkly," and also that we presently "walk by faith, not by sight" (I Corinthians 13:12; II Corinthians 5:7). We are as fish that swim in the ocean that is God, but who are often oblivious to the holy environment that provides and sustains our existence.
The reasons for this are several, and one is basic and obvious. We simply fail to avail ourselves of the ever-present glory of the great fact. Neglect is too often the shroud that hinders our view of God's dynamic reality in our lives, and we must be honest with Him and ourselves. How intently we have gazed upon the Light of our lives is as nothing compared to how we could have opened our eyes and beheld. Honest acknowledgement of our neglect must begin our consideration of why we see so relatively little of that which is is so universally pervasive. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" (Genesis 28:16).
It is also true that we are presently unable to see God in His fullness. Time and space bind us to the realm of clouds and shadows wherein our Lord's brightest light is nevertheless filtered. Born again believers can see enough of God to fill our hearts and minds to abundant overflow, but in relative terms, we are merely viewing the hem of His garment. The frame of flesh in which our spirits live is a hindrance that does not completely block out the light of the Lord Jesus. But it does mean that we what we have seen so far is as nothing compared to the illumination that awaits us when "we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).
Finally, it is a good and necessary thing that we are presently seeing through a glass darkly. How prone we are to worshipping experiences of God rather than God Himself. Too bright a vision for even the godliest among us would lead to the misguided building of altars unto the sight, the moment, the feeling, and the manifestation of our Lord's reality. This would deceive us beyond hope of restoration, and we would live our lives on the outskirts of the camp while all the while believing we are residing in the very Holy of holies itself. "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the great fact of our existence. He can be known in vivid and living display as we open our hearts by faith, and submit ourselves in holy devotion. How much more could we have already known. How much there is to be known in this present hour. And how much awaits us when the clouds dissolve and the shadows flee from the Light that will one day chase them away. Forever will not be long enough to fully gaze upon the glory of the Lord Jesus. But this day offers glimmers that are bright enough to fill us and thrill us with the wonder of the great fact. May we join the prophet in his determination to open his eyes and behold...
"I will look for Him."
(Isaiah 8:17)
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