Because we have completely gutted and transformed the kitchen in our house as we prepare to move in (a dozen years ago), we limit the bathroom remodel to a new shower stall barrier. The worker replacing the dated, frosted, framed structure with a simple piece of clear glass gives one instruction as he leaves: squeegee every day. For the first few days, the glass becomes as spotty as my commitment to wiping it clean after each use. Then I follow the instructions. Since then, the couple of thousand showers I’ve taken have every one been succeeded by a squeegee. The glass remains clear, and our tiny 1950s-style master bath seems ever so slightly less confining.
In the 27th Psalm, the world’s threats and failures surrounding, David asks to gaze instead on Yahweh’s beauty. By the end of the same Psalm, he shares his own confidence with the congregation: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”
Yahweh hides David in the tabernacle; hidden, David returns prayer, sacrifice, and song to God. In worship and devotion, he beholds Yahweh’s beauty, is hidden in Yahweh’s safety, and is undistracted by the world: “Whom shall I fear?”
Every prayer, meditation, song, scripture wipes away the hardwater world’s obscuring spots, anxieties’ distracting streaks, allowing us to see clearly into our Father’s boundless beauty and unconfined power; a day or two without, and our faith becomes as spotty as our time in his presence.
To a week of scripture, prayer, meditation, and song daily clearing the world’s obscuring residue from our view of eternity.