"Ma Tovu...": What G-d Sees
Proverbs says that without a vision, the people perish (or cast off restraint). We singles need to know that, despite what our well-meaning friends and family or acquaintances at work may say, when G-d looks at His believing singles, He says, "Ma Tovu! How beautiful!"
"How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwelling places, O Israel!Like valleys they spread out,
Like gardens beside the river,
Like aloes planted by the L-rd,Like cedars beside the waters…"
Numbers 24:5-6
Text in Hebrew: http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1045277682-9567.html#5
We are beautiful in the eyes of the L-rd. He says, "I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved Me and followed Me through the desert, through a land not sown." (Jeremiah 2:2) G-d delights in our hearts set on following Him wherever He leads us.
G-d sees us with our faults and flaws, but He sees more than that-- He sees us with the eyes of faith. He sees the transformation He has made, is making, and will continue to make in our lives. He sees the good work He has begun that He is carrying on to completion.
He sees the gift, as Father of the Bride, that He will joyfully give one day to His Son.
G-d sees the Daniel's, the Lydia's, the Rav Shaul's, the Ezekiel's, the Boaz's, the Anna's, the Corrie ten Boom's that He is preparing and using "for such a time as this."
The world says we are
The world says, "All the single ladies come up now to catch the bouquet! Or "Are you seeing anyone?" Or "Maybe you shouldn't be so picky!" Or "What did you do to scare her away?" Or assumes you have some hidden problem.
But G-d "
does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the L-rd looks at the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7)And Yeshua says, "
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of G-d and obey it" and "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 11:28, 12:15)Our lives are not to be centered around positions, possessions, places, or people; we say, "Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll--I desire to do your will, O my G-d; Your law is within my heart." (Ps. 40:7-8) We lay down every agenda by the grace of G-d in order to be pleasing and available to Him first.
G-d says He delights in
those whose ways are blameless -Proverbs 11:20
the thoughts of the pure -Proverbs 15:26
being the Father of wise children -Proverbs 23:24
those who pursue righteousness -Proverbs 15:9
honest lips -Proverbs 16:13
the prayer of the upright -Proverbs 15:8
a disciplined child -Proverbs 29:17
one sinner who repents -Luke 15:7
those who trust Him -Hebrews 11
the Jewish people -Deut. 10:14-15, Jer. 31:20
blessing the house of His servant -1 Chron. 17:27
those who prove faithful with a few things -Matthew 25:21
those who love Him -Prov. 8:17
(To look at the text in the Tanakh, go to Public domain 1917 Jewish Publication Societies' English translation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanach. )
There is no limit to the delight we believing singles give G-d as He enjoys His handiwork in our lives, seeing the response of our trust in Him.
We are beautiful to Him in Messiah, complete in Him, blessed by Him, no matter what the world or well-meaning people say…
When the Father looks at us, He sees all the things in us that He loves… all the good things He has planted and given… all the ways that our hearts respond to His. He says, "My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show Me your face, let Me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." (SS 2:14) He sees those who "by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever, who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:14)
When G-d looks at His believing singles, the cry of His heart is
"Ma Tovu!"
© P Carnie, February 2003
Last update: 10/24/2004