What Would I Look Like if …?

“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” —Isaiah 26:8, NIV.

“When God’s name and reputation are the most important things in my life, I …”

Fill in the blanks.

If exalting God were my primary goal, what would I look like? What would characterize my relationships? What would change about my priorities? My attitudes? My needs? How would my use of time be affected? What would happen to my resources?

This verse is wrapped in two other verses that are equally important. “The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the ways of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desires of our hearts, My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness” (vss. 7-9).

More follows: “Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. O Lord, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor” (vss. 12, 13).

Ours lives are lived in constant pursuit of many things, often giving obedience to other “lords.” But as Isaiah writes, those lords are dead, or will be. We pursue what will become only ash and chaff and be blown away by the wind. When we walk with the Eternal, and wait for the Eternal, and concern ourselves with glorifying the Eternal, the results are also eternal. We, the dead, become truly alive and satisfied. Isaiah writes: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” (vs. 19).

Pursue the Eternal. Exalt the Eternal. Let the Eternal God be your North, South, East and West, your compass, your guiding principle, your breath without which you die. Let Him be your heartbeat, the blood that flows through your veins. Let Him be the centre around which your world revolves.

What would you and I look like if…?