Three weeks ago I was walking on a beach in Tonga. Juliet and I had been invited to join the Tongan Navigators for their 40th anniversary celebration. We returned to NZ with beautiful stories of people meeting Jesus and passing on their new life to others. Tongan friends had endeared themselves to our hearts.
As I walked along the beach just before the conference I asked God if there was anything he wanted to say to me. Immediately I noticed a beautiful, intact scallop shell and was impressed with the message, “You are precious to me.” I was taken aback by how quickly God responded to me and the intimacy of his message. It was as if God had been waiting for me to listen to him. I was also moved that God would express this me (I did not connect this with anything I had done). This was how God viewed me because he made me and loved me. Incredible. Hard to comprehend. And yet true.
As I think about this experience the prayer in Ephesians 3:16-20 comes to mind, that you and I would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
For reflection
When was the last time you asked God to reveal himself to you?