I get my daily dose of uncovering hidden things when I (attempt to) do my Daily Bible Reading. I've got a handy little app on my phone that takes me right to what I'm to read for the day, but even so I'm not successful at this plan 100% of the time.
Today I'm reading in Micah and he's warning the people of God to pay attention, that God will be a witness against them (Micah 1:2) because of their transgressions against Him (v. 5). The fact is, the LORD has some pretty high holiness (okay, THE HIGHEST and MOST PERFECT holiness) and He's using Micah to tell the people He's about to carry out the consequences of His children's disobedience to His rules and expectations if they don't turn their hearts around and ask forgiveness.
God's been reminding me a lot lately why obedience is so important. It's not because of some random rules that He decided to suggest one day. It's not even just for our own good. When we are disobedient or sinful, we are sending a direct hit across the bow of God's holiness, saying in effect that we don't honor His holiness or His glory. Over and over again in the Bible God tells us to be obedient "for His glory." He is the Creator of the entire universe, from the greatest galaxy to the smallest micro-cell, and He made you and me. If anyone earns the title of God, He's the ONE! Of course He deserves glory!
Does God lose some holiness when we are disobedient? No, of course not. However, the transparency of His holiness and glory are veiled when we sin, and the world that does not know Jesus sees a family (the Family of God) that is dysfunctional, everybody grabbing for their own personal taste of glory instead of being unified in pointing our lives to God's glory and His alone.
My favorite part of Bible reading is application, so today I'm asking myself these questions: "What is God a witness to in your life lately? Is it something you'd like to put aside in exchange for a better thing in His eyes?" "Are you living for your own glory (a "high place") or for His (v. 3)?"
As always, God is revealing sin in my life through these verses and gently reminding me that I can choose to learn from history and repent and turn back to a humbled heart before Him so that I don't have to face His consequences AND so that I once again can say I am living my day "for Your glory, LORD, all for YOUR glory." When I can honestly say that, I'm basking in the brilliance and utter delight of it! Have you felt it? Better than lying on a boat in the noonday sun on sparkling water shimmering like diamonds is God's glory!