It stands out from the psalm I’m reading, a word—nearly leaps, like print within thick circle of glass.
God gives me a magnifying glass: my mind. I hold it over things, move it close and far to focus, and what’s beneath it grows…
What I dwell on does get magnified.
I use that principle. If I cannot get clear sense of a thing, I’ll manipulate that lens to see reality, magnify to focus.
That’s good.
And that’s bad!
Lately I’ve glimpsed things too large for me. Magnifying portions of them small enough to fit within the confines of my meager equipment has smacked the eyes of my heart with a overblown view of terrible trivia. What’s stands out, clear, is the abysmal state of things past or present, and maybe even future.
Truly, truth can set you free, and what you don’t know can hurt you, usually much more than if you’re intelligently informed. Forewarned is forearmed.
But too much of a bad thing is a really bad thing.
Philippians 4:8 instructs me to dwell on what’s true, but also what’s noble, just, pure, lovely, good-newsy, virtuous, and praiseworthy—and I think the “true” it’s talking about is more than factually so, that it’s big-T True.
I only know one thing for certain that fits all those adjectives, without glitch.
I can gaze on blue sky and after while see tornadoes materialize. Scrutinizing a luscious apple I might soon behold a ghastly worm. I can ponder what I thought was thorough truth only to get some rough revelation of lies jolting me to rude and sad awakening.
But there’s one thing not like that…
That one thing was Paul’s one thing (Phl 3:13-14).
That one thing was Mary-sister-of-Martha’s one thing, her “good part” (Lk 10:42). And it was another Mary’s thing to focus on, big.
“My soul doth magnify the Lord,” she said (Lk 1:46-47 KJV). As Hannah magnified Him (1Sa 2:1-3,6-10). As I also do this morning when verses focused on His beauty and strength and power and glory and wisdom and majesty and due honor come before me on scripture pages or in thoughts of my heart or song from my lips.
It’s good to see our precarious state, and what huge obstacles challenge us. It’s good to see we are “poor and needy.”
Then how excellent it is to see His power to meet those needs in all the benevolence He’s poured out and keeps on pouring—to think on these things, and then to thank Him! For thanksgiving to God magnifies Him, too (Psalm 69:30 KJV).
O magnify the LORD with me. Let us give praise to His holy name!
“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will MAGNIFY Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull…” –Ps 69:30-31*****
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“God gives me a magnifying glass: my mind. I hold it over things, move it close and far to focus, and what’s beneath it grows…
What I dwell on does get magnified.
I use that principle. If I cannot get clear sense of a thing, I’ll manipulate that lens to see reality, magnify to focus.”
Love this Sylvia. Know what you mean. We have to work at studying God’s Word… but when the Word is magnified to us “WOW” – nothing can beat it.
Yes, so glad you and I are neighbours at TPT this week, and thank you so much for your prayer support. This has been a difficult past week and we have another difficult (duplicate) time ahead on Monday 19th.
I thought how harmonious our posts were today when I read yours! I love how Deuteronomy 33:12 NIV became magnified for you — and now has bloomed big for me, too. (I hadn’t really paid close enough attention to it before, either!)
Prayers for you have already gone up from here, and I’m making a note on my calendar Sunday to pray for your Monday (since our time’s so different).
thanks for refocusing me with this post…it is easy for me to get caught up in a downward spiral when I confess my sin to God, instead of magnifying His grace, I end up magnifying out of proportion my weaknesses and failures…I need to move the lens over to His forgiveness and zero in on that today!
Hi Kel,
So glad you stopped to visit, and comment. What you say is too true for me, too: the spiral downward, magnifying the weaknesses, sins, failures (thereby aiding and abetting the accuser of the brethren, and sistern!) I wrote this post for me more than anyone. I’m glad it encouraged you to the upward look, also. Magnifying Him with you!
I filled my whole journal page with all the things I have ‘to do’ in the coming weeks because I was feeling overwhelmed. At the end I realized how much was MY thinking about what I have to do, not perhaps what God would have me do. Then I read this. My mind did magnify all of those things instead of the ONE who should be magnified. Thanks for the reminder.
Laurie,
I am repeatedly having to filter my to-do list like that! (Like right now???) Otherwise I will undoubtedly get so caught up with the *supposed* “gotta-do’s” and the “should-do’s” that I don’t get around to the most important to-do’s. Have a beautiful (and not exhausted) Thanksgiving next week!
Thank you so much for visiting and leaving a lovely comment. Thanks also for sharing God’s inspired words.
Have a nice week end and see you around:)
Sylvia,
I am working on my thank you list. I entitled it Habakkuk Thanksgiving. It resonates with what you write here. I love you foundation, Dear Sister!
How good it is to magnify God with our thanksgiving! And it is US that get blessed in the process. Because God becomes even more real to us when he is magnified. Thank you, Sylvia, for writing about this. Such a blessings. BLESSINGS to you and yours!
I attended a seminar on helping the hurting Friday night and all day Saturday, leaving shortly after I read this post. The first session was on our reason for existence: To Glorify God. The speaker repeatedly said we are to MAGNIFY God… put Him and His attributes on display. Every time he said Magnify, my visual self had your photo with the Scriptures flash through my mind.
Mari-Anna, that is so true. As our thanks magnifies Him, our blessings get magnified! Blessings to you, too!
Isn’t it striking, Laurie, how God often does that replaying of a word or a verse or a theme via different things we meet up with through a day or week? Magnifies a concept for sure, doesn’t it?
Yes, to magnify Him. Thank you for sharing this, Sylvia!
And thanks for visiting and commenting, Mary!