I have read all my life about the attributes of God. We could sit here for hours and pour out a list of countless virtues and features of His character, and each one mentioned would be colored slightly differently and have contrasting significance for each one of us, based on our own personal experiences with His infinitely deep, eternal love. However, as hard as I look, I have never seen listed as one of His attributes the word ‘arrogant.’ I know He is a just God and a jealous God and that He is perfect. And I know that He knows that. Because, well…because He just is. I believe it. And I love that about Him. That He can be so perfect and still love someone like me. But, if He knows it, and I know it, and I know He knows it, why in the world would He feel the need to create angelic beings who fly around Him all day long, day and night, whose primary duty is forever, saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The earth is filled with His glory.” The closest I’ve ever come to this is having one of those “Yes Man” dolls who do nothing but tell me how great I am. “I couldn’t agree with you more completely,” ” Oh, yeah! I’m behind you all the way.” “I’m sure whatever you’re thinking is correct.” “Say, I wish I’d thought of that.” “What more can I say, when you’re right, you’re right.”
The Seraphim, whose name literally means “burning ones” or the name Seraph is possibly derived from meaning “ones of love” use two of their six wings to fly all around and above the Lord, two to cover their feet, and two to cover their eyes. So, they don’t even get to SEE how amazing He is, all they can do is be in close enough proximity to experience Him…to feel Him…more than likely because, just like Moses, they couldn’t bear seeing the face of the creator of the universe and would become charred toast in a millisecond. But, they were there to feel the same impossible energy that infused dead cells at an atomic level and resurrected the beloved Son of God. And, they were there when that same impossible energy brought back to life, my own perishing heart.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.” In Hebrew, if a word was used twice, it showed that the person or object was very important. Or that what was being said was very important. “Verily, verily,” ” Moses, Moses,” “Saul, Saul.” It was definitely an attention getter. But, if a word was said THREE times, that meant off the chart perfection. So the Seraphim, “the ones of love,” are proclaiming that God is totally and utterly perfect. Bringing that down to a more human level, I have always thought Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him to match the three times Peter denied Jesus. And I still believe that. But, is it also possible that Jesus used that moment to show Peter that He would make something perfect out of Peter’s failure? The 3rd time Jesus asked totally broke Peter. “You know all things. You know that I love you.” Is it possible that in that absolutely perfect moment, Jesus revealed to Peter, and Peter finally believed in undeserved, unconditional love? But, in my human mind, the whole seraph thing sounded like a really boring job. Saying the same thing over and over and over throughout all eternity. I kept hoping, for their sake, that they at least have shifts that they change out every 12 hours or so. Or they can at least say, “Hey, can you please take over for a while? I have got to get some caffeine.” But then I read 1 Peter 5:7 Love in action. And the only response is to scream from the rooftops how stunning He is.
“Give God all your worries and all your cares for he is always thinking about you watching everything that concerns you.”
If God is always thinking about me and watching everything that concerns me, he would be, by logic, doing the same thing for everyone. And that would mean that the Seraphim are experiencing God’s immediate love for each and every one of us each and every time they fly around His head. In other words, they are not just saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.” They are reacting to a new facet of His love for all of His children. They aren’t saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord” because it’s just their job. They are so overcome by the sheer weight of His unfailing love for us that they have no other outlet than to scream out how perfectly magnificent He is. They, as do we, when we experience His blood red grace, have no one earthly word to express how blameless, faultless and absolute His love is for us. So, we, along with the Seraphim, can only cry out Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. The whole earth is filled with His glory.” The ‘burning ones’ of heaven are constantly reminded of how the Lord puts love into action. How He doesn’t just make promises. He fulfills them. If you pass me on the 167 sometimes, you might just see me and think I’m talking to myself. But, what I’m really doing is joining with the angels in proclaiming how perfect is the love of my Father. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. It is a picture that 1 John 3 paints of what real love is to look like.
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what He said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in His personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep His commands, we live deeply and surely in Him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience His deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
So, one day at my former job, I was working register #1 and looked up to see a long line with several people waiting to be checked out. I looked down beside the lady I was checking out and saw a little girl standing next to her who was a miniature Shirley Temple with brown hair. I mean, the curly hair, rosy cheeks. I was waiting for her to break into “Good Ship Lollipop.” As I looked at her, though, I noticed that she was standing very still and very obviously fighting back tears. In one hand, she held a small book, “Yertle The Turtle,” and a pen that read “Teachers are the Heart of Learning” in the other. I assumed she was with the lady I was checking out. But, when I finished with her, the lady left and the little one walked to the counter. There were probably 4 people waiting in line behind her and a few more over at the imprinting station, all within eavesdropping distance. As I looked down at this precious little girl, she looked up and laid the two items on the counter and said something to me so softly I couldn’t understand her. I looked up at the next lady in line, hoping she was the child’s mom. But, she just shrugged her shoulders and mouthed, “I don’t know.” So, I said, “I’m sorry sweety. What did you say?” I leaned down closer so I could hear her. Her chin quivered as she whispered, “I wanted these. But I took them without paying for them.” I knew exACTly what was going on. I just prayed all those in line would understand my taking some extra time. I walked around the counter and got down on my knees so we would be eye to eye. I feigned extreme seriousness and said,
“Well, little one, how do you feel about it?”
“Bad.”
“Are you sorry for taking those things without paying for them?”
The little curly head nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Are you ever going to do that again?”
Her voice was as broken as her heart. “No sir.”
“Well, I tell you what. I’ve done some pretty silly things in my life I shouldn’t have done. But you know what? I know Jesus forgave me for doing those dumb things. And I know He forgives you. So I forgive you too. I forgive you, little friend. Thank you for bringing those things back and being honest. That was the best thing you could have done. You’re a very, very good girl.”
She didn’t seem convinced as she turned to leave.
She got about 4 steps away from me when I said, “Hey.”
She turned back.
“Can I have a hug?”
There they were…the Shirley Temple dimples. She literally ran to me and buried her little head in my shoulder. As I held her close, I could feel her sobs and tears hit my neck.
I looked up to see a tall man, Dad, at the end of the counter with tears in his eyes and his lower lip quivering. As she walked away, he said, “Okay…come on. Let’s go home.”
So, although I did the best I could at verbally conveying how much, in spite of her actions, God truly cared for her and loved her, the real breakthrough didn’t occur until I put those words of love into action. The words may or may not have been adequate in and of themselves. But, I hope, if she remembers anything from that experience, she will remember the feeling of forgiveness and love from the hug, the action.
I stood up and turned to see about 10 people wiping their eyes. We all stood there for a few minutes and talked about which Maxwell House Commercial makes us cry hardest.
When I got home and had time to process, I thought about the “ones of love” flying around God and the Seraphim and we all shouted together, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.”
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