The Sun

 "Every time you feel in God's creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your thought to God and say: 'O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!" - Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

While driving to church this evening, it was one of those times that the sun is glowing ever so brightly and I tend to want to gaze at its beauty but the magnificence hurts my eyes.  You can't look directly into the sun more than a second without having to turn away.  Its light is much too powerful.  It caused me to think about seeing God's face.  Scripture tells us that we cannot see God's face this side of Heaven and live.  We read about this when Moses encountered God - "Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live." Exodus 33:18-20. Moses saw God but not God's face.  Our earthly eyes cannot behold the full depth of His glory.  I've been reading the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn and it has stirred praise in my heart to ponder on the idea that on the New Earth, we will in fact see God's face. For then, we will be fully in His presence and no longer limited in any way, shape or form in our relationship with Him.  The author states, "Not only will we see his face and live, but we will likely wonder if we ever lived before we saw his face!  To see God will be our greatest joy, the joy by which all others will be measured."  How incredible!  Never before have I experienced such a longing and anticipation for Heaven as I have in recent days.  And seeing the sun today in all it's glory was only just a glimpse of what God's glory will look like.  How could this not affect the way I live out my days until I'm Home with Him?  For soon, my King is coming!  Soon and very soon.