Can't help but notice.

If you've ever been to the beach during the summer, you know that the first time you put your bare feet on the sand, you start scrambling to the edge of the shore. Why? Because the sand is so stinkin' hot.




You can't help but notice the heat and you say over and over again, "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Oh! REALLY hot!"





Remember when you were seven and you fell off of your bike? Your knee started to sting and hurt. It was the most intense pain you've ever felt in all the seven years of your life. You screamed, you cried, you rocked back and forth. You couldn't help but notice how awful the pain was. It was the most real thing in life at that moment.


There are a lot of things, like hot sand and asphalt in a bleeding cut, that are so outrageously noticeable that it produces physical manifestations or responses that we can clearly see.

Question: How do you respond to God? Do you think He is absolutely, ridiculously, cold-water-to-the-face noticeable? Have you ever been practically paralyzed because of His presence? Have you ever just wanted to explode with joy leaving bits and pieces of happy all over the place because of His kindness? Have you ever felt so overwhelmed and appalled that you start weeping because of how much He loves you?

There are places in the Bible that describe the throne room in Heaven where God sits.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isaiah 6:3

The seraphs definitely didn't get out there Heaven Hymnal to turn to number 4,562. They sang "Holy, holy, holy" because they couldn't get over how mighty and powerful and awesome God is.

On his way to Damascus, Saul encountered Jesus. His presence was so real, Saul was knocked off his horse and the light radiating from Jesus made him physically blind. After that, everything about Saul changed--even his name.

When God becomes that real, for one we feel the touch, but ultimately, we can never be the same. We are transformed. So how can we feel that way? How can Jesus become that real to us? Should we wait for the day when we're walking along and a blinding, piercing light breaks through the clouds onto our face and ten thousand angels descend playing harps and singing and then Jesus speaks with a thundering voice that shakes the ground?

That would be cool, but why wait? Don't expect a "wow-God-you're-so-outrageously-real" moment to just jump on you. You seek it out. Get hungry for Him. Be desperate to know more about Him. When you spend time with Him, don't start by praying. Be quiet and imagine yourself in the throne room. Imagine how awesome He is. Seek Him.


"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

Lord Jesus, we can't help but notice you.