Behold

 

“He will retrace His own image on thee line by line,
effacing by His grace and gracious discipline the marks
and spots of sin which have defaced it.”
~Edward B. Pusey~

“One thing I have desired of the Lord—that will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord,
to behold the beauty of the Lord.”
~Psalm 27:4~

Literally, to “behold” (in Old English, bihaldan) means thoroughly to hold or thoroughly hold onto; to gaze upon.

In order to form a mental image of another person’s features, the technique of face-feeling allows a blind person to explore the contours and shape of a face. Does this person have facial hair? What shape are the eyes? Are there wrinkles? What kind of expression can be attributed to this person as a blind person interacts with them?

Take the metaphorical image here and apply it to ourselves and so trace our fingers over the face of our Savior, in order to “fix” His image in our mind’s eye. No longer are we stumbling about in our hurts and misconceptions, blind to His purposes in our lives because of the injustice we feel about a certain thing or a trial we are enduring. Looking at Ephesians 4:13-16, we are encouraged to shift away from an infantile pout, tossed about, to a mindset in which we become mature and grow up in all things (NIV/KJV), choosing to pause and press our thoughts on Him, fix our face toward Him, turn the dial away from the static of our sin and tune in to His grace. It is having the mind of Christ, as 1 Corinthians 2:16 reminds us, “assimilating His mind, His way of looking at things, His judgments, His spirit”…allowing the “Christ-conscience” to be developed in us (Hugh Black). “Our eyes are taken off ourselves; we are not absorbed in rehearsing our own experiences” (Henry Scott Holland).

Thoroughly “holding onto” the Lord sustains us through dry, difficult, and dark times, and disciplining or retraining our brains can help us respond to difficulties with maturity and kingdom perspective. I “thoroughly hold” on to God’s thoughts about me and remember that I have a choice concerning how I respond. Gazing upon Abba Father in the midst of hardship helps me as I decode my emotions and reconstruct a response that is filtered through Him.

I’m upset because I feel passed over, so I will choose to remember God has not forgotten me:  One who has perfect knowledge is with you (Job 36:4).I feel ignored, so I will choose to meditate on God’s kindness toward me:  God met her in her distress…the One who sees me—El Roi (Genesis 16:13).I feel exhausted because of the emotional energy I spent on such and such a thing, so I will choose to think about God’s affirmation over me:  He will take great delight in you; in His love he…will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).

Helen Burns, in Jane Eyre, encourages Jane to bridle the passionate hostility she bears toward her antagonist. Helen acknowledges the unkindness bestowed on Jane but gently exhorts her to release the painful recollections. “What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs…I hold another creed:  which no one ever taught me…but in which I delight, and to which I cling…I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last: with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low:  I live in calm” (Charlotte Bronte).

Helen Burns’ prescription is biblical! Every time we find ourselves rankling over the most recent offense, forget it! Allow Him to wipe away the festering resentment; in looking to Him, he gently wipes away—effaces—the worry lines that mark our souls. Through His grace, we can release resentment and revenge and any degradation that feels as though it would crush us.

And in beholding him, our hearts can have no room to contain dark thoughts any longer; Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!

I’ll contemplate His beauty
I’ll study at His feet
That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
Far from the buzz of traffic.
Psalm 27:4-5, The Message