Unveiled Glory Displaces Darkness
It was her eyes that caught my attention. Beautiful dark eyes that seemed to smile. Indeed, when she smiled, the deep lines around her eyes spoke of the long years and hard circumstances she had walked through. But there was an unmistakable sparkle, a glimmer of radiant hope mixed with courage.
Keena,* a Syrian woman who found herself and her family displaced by the disaster of her war-torn country, was now taking refuge in Lebanon. The situation in Syria is noted as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, and Keena is counted as one of the millions of people who fled from Syria. Lebanon is where hundreds of thousands of the refugees have landed. That’s when Heart for Lebanon saw its “Esther” moment—a chance to share humanitarian aid, serve neighbors, and love its enemies with the love of Christ. Its goal: help the refugees move from despair to hope in the love of Christ.
Keena and her husband told their stories through tears of sorrow but also shed tears of joy because of their new-found hope in Jesus. Keena ended by telling us that as a symbol and declaration of all Jesus had done for her, she wanted to do something out of love for him. What was her act of love? She decided to remove her veil, because of her love for Jesus, the sovereign lover of her soul. What trust. What hope. What love. Her statement and unbridled risky love for Jesus overwhelmed me.
After thinking more about her boldness, I asked questions in my mind about my own boldness and what I was willing to risk for Jesus. What veils are covering my heart that Jesus himself wants to remove so that his glory could be reflected? Keena’s love and fearlessness took my mind straight to 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
It is said that we become what we behold. This was unveiled glory. This glory makes me desire to look with the eyes of Jesus at the veiled faces in our city, to lean in and notice them as image bearers – anticipating his grace in the connection. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
That’s why I was on the Vision Trip to Lebanon. We go and see and come back; then we tell and pray with renewed hope in the power of his Spirit, knowing that God is able to remove the veil from the hearts of those who are perishing. The Heart 4 Lebanon workers are the hands and feet of Jesus. They need our prayers to persevere and be instruments in our redeemer’s hands.
*Name changed for confidentiality