How to See
God is very committed to teaching us how to see. To make this possible He gave us the Holy Spirit as a tutor. The curriculum that He uses is quite varied. But the one class we all qualify for is the greatest of all Christian privileges, worship. Learning how to see is not the purpose for our worship, but it is a wonderful by-product. Those who worship in spirit and truth, as mentioned in
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24
learn to follow the Holy Spirit's lead. His realm is called the kingdom of God. The throne of God, which becomes established upon the praises of His people
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel. Psalms 22:3
is the center of that Kingdom. It's in the environment of worship that we learn things that go way beyond what our intellect can grasp
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Ephesians 3:20
and the greatest of these lessons is the value of His Presence. David was so affected by this that all his other exploits pale in comparison to his abandoned heart for God. We know that he learned to see into God's realm because of statements like,
"I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" Ps. 16:8. The Presence of God affected his seeing. He would constantly practice recognizing the Presence of God. He saw God daily, not with the natural eyes, but with the eyes of faith. That priceless revelation was given to a worshiper. The privilege of worship is a good beginning place for those unaccustomed to addressing some of these kinds of themes found in Scripture. It's in that wonderful ministry that we can learn to pay attention to this God-given gift: the ability to see with the heart. As we learn to worship with purity of heart, our eyes will continue to open. And we can expect to see what He wants us to see. King David would later discover some things about God's response to worship that were unknown in Moses' time. Each generation has access to more than the previous. It is God's law of compound interest. Specifically, David recognized how God responds to the praises of His people. God responds with His Presence, He comes. This call of God upon the nation of Israel was to leave Egypt in order to worship. They were becoming a people who would be known by the Presence of God. He would become the distinguishing factor. God's heart was for His entire nation of Israel to become priests. In fact, He commanded Moses to tell Israel of His desire.
"And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" Ex. 19:6.
Priests minister to God. The plan of God having a people of His Presence was well underway. Worship is powerful for many reasons. One of the most important is that we always become like the One we worship. This by itself would take Israel to new levels. But this call of God upon the nation of God would not go unnoticed. The devil is very afraid of a worshipping people. He actually doesn't mind complacent worship, as it seems to work opposite to the real thing, it deadens our sensitivities to the Holy Spirit of God. It works completely opposite to the effects of sold out, passionate worship. Complacent worship is an oxymoron.
