Beside

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” John 15:15-16a

I started the day in prayer, and felt I was bowing before a great throne in heaven, my face on the ground, in utter submission and abandonment to Him, waiting for some word, or no word at all. I sensed my heart was literally at the feet of the Lord.

The destroyer brought a thought to disturb my peace: Being so near His feet, He could kick me out or step on me if He wanted to.

I fought back with every ounce of truth I had in me: My Father would never kick me out or step on me. He wouldn’t want to. I am in no danger when I am at His feet.

I thought, what if I got up off my face and went to sit with Him, as a friend? I fought with myself a bit over that concept. Is it allowed? Does a mortal have the freedom to sit with Divinity as a friend for a few minutes?

I sensed Him speaking a word to my heart: “Come up here.” He was beckoning me to join Him, to get beside Him. I was full of joy, knowing He had heard my wandering thoughts.

It wasn’t a place of prominence for me. I didn’t feel important or exalted. What I felt was acceptance, as a companion. In my mind, He put His arm around my shoulders and pointed way off into the distance. What was He looking at that He wanted me to see?

It was the world. The whole, entire, wide world. I saw the healthy, green jungles on the Equator, and the brown-skinned people who inhabited those lands. I saw jagged mountain peaks and the various animals that dwell on their heights. I saw cities teeming with people bumping into one another. I saw small villages where everyone carefully avoided dangerous animals and insects while scratching a meager living from the earth. I saw sand-blown deserts with tumbleweeds, sparsely populated with tiny flat-roofed homes bulging with large families. I saw vast, frigid, wind-swept swaths of land, and oceans, deep and dark, that hid all sorts of treasures and life. I saw squalor and palaces, skid row and royalty.

And I sensed God saying, “This is what I love.”

I knew in that moment that I was called to love them all, too. I rationalized that if I could just stay there beside Him, then I, too, would have no problem loving them. And it was then He reminded me that I was already beside Him. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

I am without excuse.

Father, may we see with Your eyes and love with Your love. Amen.