Some of the sweetest visits come with no agenda. Today’s Daily Cup turns a daughter’s simple words into an invitation to gaze on God’s beauty, fix our eyes on Jesus, and discover the fullness of joy found in His presence.
By Dianna Hobbs
In His presence is fullness of joy. (Photo: EEW Magazine Online)
I turn 50 in a week, and I still cannot shake this upper respiratory infection. My doctors have put me on steroids and antibiotics, and my voice is still gone. Viruses have been making their way through our household for several weeks now. Thankfully, everyone else is doing pretty well. Me? Being immunocompromised makes recovery a little more complicated.
Still, I’m praying, trusting God, and remaining grateful, even though I haven’t been feeling my best.
Last week, I was dragging myself around the kitchen, shuffling my feet as I made my morning cup of coffee. I looked up and saw my youngest daughter, Kaiah, coming downstairs. Since I was battling this nasty infection and she was just getting over a cold, we’d been keeping our distance.
I was happy to see her but assumed she was coming down for something to eat, so I told her I’d be out of her way in a minute.
“I was actually coming downstairs just to see you,” she said with that bright smile of hers.
My eyes lit up, and my heart melted. “Awww, that’s so sweet!”
Knowing my daughter had come downstairs for no other reason than to spend a little time with me made my heart glad. I just loved that.
Later, as I sipped my frothy coffee, I kept thinking about her words and how much they meant to me.
“I was actually coming downstairs just to see you.”
Then another thought crossed my mind. What a beautiful thing it would be to approach our Heavenly Father with those same words.
I came just to see You, Lord.
David expressed this desire in Psalm 27:4. More than anything else, he wanted “to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (NIV). He wanted to spend time in God’s presence, looking upon Him with wonder and delight.
I explore this passage in the final chapter of my new 28-day devotional, Finding Gratitude in the Dark, which releases on my 50th birthday, November 2.
The Hebrew word translated “gaze,” chazah, means to behold, see, or perceive. In David’s prayer, that seeing is something he longs to experience continually.
From the same Hebrew root comes chazon, the word for vision. Isaiah opens his prophetic book with the “vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw” (Isaiah 1:1 NIV).
“Vision” is chazon. “Saw” is chazah.
There is seeing, and then there is seeing.
The writer of Hebrews calls us to that same kind of seeing. As we run the race set before us, we keep going by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). To fix our eyes on Jesus means looking away from everything else so we can focus on Him. It describes a steady, ongoing gaze. We keep looking.
Kaiah came into the kitchen with food as the last thing on her mind. She came looking for me.
Plenty competes for our attention. Right now, for me, it’s an infection that won’t let go and a voice that still hasn’t come back. For you, it may be a bill, a diagnosis, a broken relationship, or a prayer that seems to be taking forever. Hebrews invites us to look away from all of it long enough to see Jesus.
The King James Version calls Him “the author and finisher of our faith.” Jesus is both where our faith starts and where it ends up. He went first, blazing the trail and living a life of faith from beginning to end without ever faltering.
He also does that work in us.
He starts our faith, and He sees it through to completion. As Paul wrote, “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 KJV).
Whatever is pulling at your attention today, keep looking at Jesus. He is still working on you, and He finishes what He starts. I invite you to gaze on Him. Concentrate on Him. Meditate on His goodness and the countless ways He has demonstrated His love toward you.
Something will always pull at your focus, whether it’s problems to solve, responsibilities to manage, or needs to meet. But when you stop and gaze upon Him, stress and worry lose their hold, and gratitude and joy take their place.
To help you experience that unspeakable joy, I’m stirring in the words David wrote as the sweetener in your cup of inspiration: “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).
As you drink down the contents of your cup, I hear the Lord saying, “Focus on Me. Nothing else. And I will give you joy.”
Now, let’s pray.
God, thank You for reminding me that as I gaze upon Your beauty, I can experience fullness of joy in every season. With so much competing for my attention, help me turn my heart and mind toward You, meditate on Your goodness, and remain grateful in all circumstances. Let every distraction fade into the background until the deepest cry of my heart is simply, “Lord, I just want to see You.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.
