Look At Me

I turned my face away and punished them because of their defilement and their sins. [Ezekiel 39.24]

God's punishment reveals His true character.

The fact that when God turns His face away that punishment is the result very clearly reveals that His "look" upon us sustains our lives. Every blessing in our lives is the result of God's "look" upon us. God's character then, is love and blessing. When He is looking upon us, there is blessing. When God looks away from us, curses result.

God is good.

You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees. [Psalm 119.68]

So, when God looks away, there is another - a destroyer - who stands by waiting for any and every opportunity to kill, steal, and destroy. That is his character.

God's "look" upon us is, by nature, forgiveness. God cannot look upon sinful fallen man except that He forgives sinful fallen man. That which garners God's "look" is repentance. The forgiveness that follows repentance imparts salvation, the Holy Spirit, healing, and provision.

If then, God's "look" means everything to us, what then does our "look" upon others mean to them (if we are representatives of God's Kingdom on earth)? It is of no surprise then that God's followers are clearly instructed to forgive as they have been forgiven.

It is of further importance to consider Jesus' words on the Cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Is it not clear that Jesus declared that God had "looked" away from Him? For the record, Jesus' was not asking this question because He needed an answer. He asked the question in the same way God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" in the Garden of Eden - He knew the answer. Jesus was essentially saying, "I have accomplished what I came to accomplish."

But Jesus said something else on the Cross that is paramount to our salvation: "Father, forgive them..."

God turned away from Jesus because of our sin He carried to the Cross ("...why have You forsaken me?) and in that moment Jesus secured salvation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, healing, and provision for us with the words, "Father, forgive them..."

God's "look" is all-important.

Father, forgive me for any and everything I do and have done for which You have had to look away. I plead "Jesus" over my life. Help me going forward to stay "in Christ" so that Your look will continually be upon me.