I See You

I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities. Psalm 31:7

REFLECTION:

As we all know, there is a difference between "hearing" and "listening."

If I "hear" you, it means the sound waves from your voice have traveled into my ear.

If I am "listening" to you, however, it means I have quieted my own response and applied my energy to appreciating, understanding, and valuing your perspective.

Likewise, there is a difference between seeing someone (with our eyes) and really SEEING someone; understanding and valuing them.

In the passage above, I take comfort in the idea that it is the second kind of SEEING that God does.
God doesn't just acknowledge my struggles; God SEES them, ENTERS them with me, and RESCUES me so that nothing but His Love for me will have the final say.

This is the point of Psalm 31. If you have the time, read the full text of Psalm 31 here.
As you will notice, Psalm 31 is one of several Jesus quote on the cross. "Into your hands, I commend my spirit," are his exact words, taken directly from this Psalm. It strikes me that these words would be a good morning prayer for each of us, as well.

It also strikes me that, as people who are truly SEEN by God; people who are acknowledged and valued, it is incumbent upon us to employ our strength to SEEING our neighbors as well.

This seems to be increasingly important, as the tone of our public debate has often made whole groups into caricatures. As people who are truly SEEN by God, can we SEE each other as neighbors, not political affiliations? Can we SEE our friends as valuable enough to try to hear the genuine concerns behind their political affiliations, especially if they are different form our own?

As people who are truly SEEN by God, can we SEE the plight of refugees without speaking of them as though they are all a threat to our security? Can we find a path forward that allows entrance to those fleeing for their lives, but also follows common-sense measures toward vetting, in order to avoid (as much as possible) allowing entrance to terrorists? I hope we find this path forward together.

My big question is this: can we allow our faith to inform our approach to political matters, rather than allowing our political affiliations to inform our approach to faith? Which has greater staying power? Which is based on divine principles and which is based on our sinful human tendency to clump with "our people?" In short, which has stood the test of time and is more reliable? Our identity as Christians or our identity as political tribes?

Today, I pray we rest in the idea that we are truly SEEN by God. I also pray this gives us the courage and the vision to truly SEE our neighbors...to understand and value them, even if we disagree with them.

PRAYER:
God, we thank you for the ways you truly see our struggles and hear our cries. When it comes to seeing and hearing each other, though, we are blinded and deafened by the political tribalism we have created on both sides of "the aisle" we have also invented. Humble us all, to see each other, to see those in need, and to see the ways you call us to be part of your healing work in the world. Amen.

NOTE ABOUT THE PICTURE:
The image included with this devotion is the "God's Eye Nebula," a natural phenomena captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. I include it here for a subtle reminder of how large the universe is, and how expansive God is...and how small our political bickering is in comparison.