Photo cred: Jack Sharp
Written by: David Hood
Let’s be real. The last few years have been hard, and I thought, coming out of the pandemic, that things would be better, but in some ways, they’re harder now. For a lot of us, the full weight of what we’ve just been through together is only just hitting us now because we never really processed all of the grief, loss, disappointment, and loneliness. We were just trying to get through and keep it together, and now that we’re on the other side, we’re feeling it all. Some of it is that things were in such a state of constant flux and disruption and uncertainty for so long that we never really rested, and now we’re exhausted emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. And some of it is that we had such high hopes that the post-pandemic world would be a better one, but instead, we’re witnessing one of the worst wars in European history since WW2, life is becoming more and more unaffordable, our systems are failing, our economy is failing, healthcare is failing, politics is failing, people can’t buy houses, food prices are skyrocketing, and society is the most polarized it has been in decades. People are bored, restless, angry, volatile, demoralized, addicted, radicalized, unempathetic, and lonely. All of this makes it quite difficult to really enjoy being on this side of the pandemic. 2019 feels like another world.
However, despite all of this, I have to have hope, because I believe in and serve a God who is greater than all of these circumstances A God who is good and kind, who is for me and for you, and who wants our thriving and flourishing. This is why I believe what, or rather WHO, we need more of 2023 is God. We need to look up from our circumstances, from the news, from our social media feeds, from our algorithmically curated playlists on YouTube, from Netflix and Disney+, from the crowds, and we need to look at God, be with Him, hear from Him, and be filled by Him.
If you are His child, He sees you. He hears you. He loves you. He can help you. He can give you everything you need and more. He is enough. If you have God you have everything, and you can have hope, joy, peace, and love in the midst of anything. You can thrive and not just survive. As Isaiah says:
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.
But what does it even mean to have more of God?
In Ephesians 1, Paul prays this for the Ephesian Christians: 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.
In this prayer, Paul prays four things:
1) That the Ephesians would know God better, but not just know more about Him factually and intellectually. No, Paul wants them to experience what they know of God. He wants their knowledge to move from their heads to their hearts and transform their lives. He wants them to experience God as loving, wise, good, glorious, and all-satisfying, and be captivated by Him.
2) That the Ephesians would know that God is absolutely invested in their sanctification (their becoming and living like Jesus), and He is able to use everything, all of life, the good and the bad, the sweet and the hard, to form them into the image of Christ. In other words, Paul is saying, I pray that you would see God everywhere and in everything. That you would see His goodness, kindness, and faithfulness; how He is at work in you, and you would live in the reality that God has you and everything is going to be OK.
3) That the Ephesians would know just how rich God is in His inheritance, His people, the church. In other words, Paul prays that they would see the Church, and, therefore, themselves, as God’s riches. We are His prized possession. His treasure. We are the joy that was set before Jesus that allowed Him to endure the cross. I am precious. You are precious. We are precious. Paul prays that they would see themselves the way God sees them, and the church the way God sees her.
4) Lastly, that the Ephesians would experience the presence and power of God in their lives through the Holy Spirit, God in them. That they would experience resurrection power as they seek to emulate Jesus by loving difficult, unloveable people and persisting in that love. Loving their enemies, forgiving the unforgivable, giving generously, refraining from violence, not retaliating, sharing their faith in a hostile culture, staying on the narrow path even as the crowds walk the broad road, etc… Paul prays, ‘as you live for Jesus, may you feel God there with you and empowering you from within and giving you everything you need.‘
This is what it means to have MORE of God. This whole prayer is for encounter, experience, transformation, depth, and reality. This is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and this is my prayer for me and for you in 2023. This is what we need, and this is what changes everything else. This is what gives you hope, joy, and peace, no matter what, and this is what grows your capacity to love, give, serve, and live for Jesus with your whole life with your whole heart. Tim Keller observes,
It is remarkable that in all of his writings Paul’s prayers for his friends contain no appeals for changes in their circumstances. It is certain that they lived in the midst of many dangers and hardships. They faced persecution, death from disease, oppression by powerful forces, and separation from loved ones. Their existence was far less secure than ours is today. Yet in these prayers you see not one petition for a better emperor, for protection from marauding armies, or even for bread for the next meal. Paul does not pray for the goods we would usually have near the top of our lists of requests…He reveals what he asked most frequently for his friends- what he believed was the most important thing God could give them- to know Him better.
May you know Him better this year, for His glory, your joy, and the good of our world.