For my birthday one year, my mother sent me a package wrapped in plain brown paper. When I opened it, there was a gaudy, multicolored straw basket inside, stuffed with tissue paper. I thought Mother had lost her good senses! I tossed out the tissue paper, wondered what in the world I was going to do with the basket, then called to thank her for her "gift." Mother laughed when I thanked her for the basket, then asked what I thought about what was inside it. I told her that nothing was inside except tissue paper, and I had thrown that out. She responded urgently, "Oh, no, Anne! Inside that tissue paper is your real birthday gift!"

I ran outside and went through the garbage piece by piece until I came up with the wad of tissue paper. Inside was a small gold ring with a lapis lazuli stone that had been taken from the flooring in the Palace of Shushan and obtained from the British Museum! I had thrown out a priceless treasure simply because of the way it was wrapped!

What priceless treasure are you in danger of throwing out because of the way it is packaged? Sometimes God wraps His glory in hard circumstances or ugly obstacles, and it just never occurs to us that within those life-shaking events is a fresh revelation of Him.

I wonder: Is God wanting to reveal His glory to you, but you're not looking? Are you focused instead on pressures and problems, unable to see that they are just the wrappings on the outside of the "package"?

In the Old Testament, God wrapped His glory in an earthly tent that from the outside must have appeared, if not ugly, then certainly very ordinary. The tent was called the tabernacle, and it housed the manifestation of His presence when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. God instructed them to cover the tabernacle itself with layers of goat hair and ram skins and even sea-cow hides! A casual observer would never have suspected that there would be any glory there! Yet the Shekinah glory of God was revealed within this humble covering.

Is God trying to pry open the eyes of your heart so He can show you His glory? Is He using a life-shaking experience for that purpose?

When the attack is furious and the pain unbearable, let your heart whisper, God, what do You have for me inside this package? My eyes are wide open!

Adapted from Anne's latest book, I Saw the Lord: A Wake-up Call for Your Heart (Zondervan, 2006). Used by permission. Visit Anne at www.angelministries.org.

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