Face Off!

Numbers 6: 26 (KJV)– “The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

        This scripture is an excerpt from the Priestly Blessing given to the newly developing nation of Israel as they prepared for the consecration of the tabernacle and God’s visitation. In an earlier verse the priest proclaimed that ‘the Lord make his face to shine upon thee”, which referred to his Godly presence. Now this verse is more emphatic and asks that God might turn in a particular way and pay specific attention to those receiving the blessing.  That is my charge for you today.  In our cognitive thinking and from our hearing of sermons, bible study and personal reading we learn that our God is omnipresent-always near; he never leaves nor forsakes. Although our minds know that as a spirit God occupies all of creation, therefore he must be right where we are; sometimes we may feel that we need him to pay particular attention to us specifically. We are part of a royal priesthood; a peculiar nation and we want to feel the specialness of being a ‘stand-out’.

        As an educator I know how important it is to make sure that all the members of my class feel I am concerned about them individually. I make a point to learn my students’ names during the first class meeting and while I lecture I try to get and maintain eye contact with each student to make sure I can read their faces.  This helps me to know if concepts are getting through or whether the ‘porch light is on and no one is home.’  If I get the old deer-in-the-headlights glazed-over glance too often I know I need to revisit a particular point. I am in the room – giving my best to the entire class; but I know the way my students thrive when I take the time to come from behind the lecture podium, walk amongst the seats and talk to them as I catch their eyes.  God is always with us; but ohhh how special it is when we feel that God has us in his bull’s-eye.  When we know that God is not just smiling at us in general; but that he has turned his face to us in particular – oh what a feeling.  Know today that my blessing to and for you is that you know how much God loves you and that he definitely has his eyes on you. His unmerited favor is upon you and his mercy shields you.

     When I present a challenging question to my class I often wait to see how they hash out options for discussion. A little bit of stress is good because it stretches their thinking and makes them reach beyond the mediocre.  I watch their faces as they explore critical thinking techniques.  When I see that the struggle is turning to frustration, then I can opt to either give clues or rephrase the question to help alleviate their desire to give up. Whatever might be trying to trouble you, know that God has his eyes on not only on the situation, but he is reading your face to see how you are handling things and he will act for your greater good.  Sometimes it is necessary to let you wiggle through the discomfort to build character and other times God will restructure things so you don’t give out or give up.  Every day is a good day; it is up to us to make it a GREAT day.  Be blessed.  Dr. JoAnn