WE SHALL BEHOLD HIM!
I am so thanking God for technology today. To be able to go on the internet and pull up some of the greatest moments of history for me is a blessing I cannot express. Today, I witnessed again the joyous rendition of Sandi Patti singing "We Shall Behold Him" at a camp meeting where its’ author Dottie Rambo was present. Whenever I see this, tears come to my eyes, for though I’ve never met either one, we share the same Father. Something in my heart leaps each time because I can remember Dottie Rambo years ago talking about how she wrote this magnificent song, while on The 700 Club. I remember the years of struggle that Sandi Patti went through during a period of her life; the joy when she had twins; my oh so favorite song that she sang with Larnelle Harris, He’s So Wonderful. I even remember the time I went to a concert where Larnelle Harris was with The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (my favorite choir in all the world) and I went to Larnelle Harris for an autograph and told him my favorite song he sang was he and Sandi Patti. I remember the look he gave me, like we were kin. It might seem funny to some, but those precious memories and so many others, gave me to know that there was something special about being in the Family of God. They were also times when I knew that I had "beheld HIM for myself; not in totality, but I had a glimpse of what His glory was all about!
As I sit here on this Good Friday listening to worship, reading my Bible, thinking of so many wonderful memories I have of being in the presence of the saints of God and the wonder of His church, I have to acknowledge where it began:
at w31-33 Then Jesus took the twelve on one side and spoke to them, "Listen to me. We are now going up to Jerusalem and everything that has been written by the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. For he will be handed over to the heathen, and he is going to be jeered at and insulted and spat upon, and then they will flog and kill him. But he will rise again on the third day." Luke 18:31 (KJV)
Little did Jesus disciples know what events they were about to witness on that day when Jesus told them they were to go to Jerusalem. Yes, He told them what would happen, but who could really conceive that the One who healed the sick, laid hands on the blind and they saw, cast out devils, turned water into wine, fed the five thousand, and countless other miracles; would willingly succumb to the kind of treatment described in this verse. And yet, that and much much more occurred before Jesus uttered His last breath on that cross on Golgotha’s hill.
In January of this year as we joyously rang in the New Year, no one could have told us that we would soon face a worldwide -pandemic due to a virus the no one could see with the naked eye, and we would be quarantined to our homes for over six weeks. No one could have said to those who were traveling to get to work on time, that soon they would be working in their living room. No one could have foretold that our children would be home from public school possibly the entire second semester of the school year.
There are some who have a prophetic ear like Elijah that can hear what is said in the king’s bedroom, but most of us are ordinary folk who are just trying to get by from day to day. What I have noticed for those on the six o’clock HeartLife Prayer Call is that just like the moments I witnessed on television with Dottie Rambo and Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris and countless others, we have started to get a glimpse of glory. Just like those Bill "Gaither assembles for his song zests share a common bond, no matter where they come from, so too, we on the prayer line no matter where we abide are beginning to be knit into a united tapestry of those who have caught a glimpse of the Savior. And, isn’t that what it’s all about? God gave family, and then community before He gave any other institution. Jesus came "seeking for those who were lost". He found us and we found Him. When we see Him, He passes it on…the mantle to seek others who too will see Him. Fret not beloved, this pandemic will not last forever, but if you catch a glimpse of His glory, your life will forever be changed.
Have a Wonderfully Blessed Resurrection Week-end (He Did Get UP), Wherever You Are!
Maria