HUGADAY

“Hugaday.” When I saw this license plate on the back of a white Buick in the parking lot, I felt like the owner wanted to spread verbal hugs, however fleeting, to other drivers around him. A person could stop at a red light behind this vehicle, decipher the letters to himself and then grin as the light turned green! I was charmed by this person’s gracious gesture and immediately became a fan of random hugs.

Hugs are easy to give and receive. Handshakes are friendly but formal, kisses are way too intimate, but hugs land in the middle as appropriate healthy behavior. People don’t have to come up with words when they avail their hugs to others because the body language speaks for itself. And those who hug necks freely, I believe, are free people who understand the value of dispensing doses of emotional medicine.

I think of “hugaday” when I consider God’s omniscience; His ability to know everything all at once and more importantly, His ability to be there for each of us every single day. No day goes by without access to God’s love, power and mercy.

Solomon, the author of Proverbs offers us easy access to God by creating the persona Wisdom. Disguised as a witness to the magnitude of God’s creation, Wisdom speaks in first person but is actually the mind of God speaking for Himself. “When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, as a master workman, And I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, and delighting in mankind.” (Proverbs 8: 30) With the assurance that God delights in mankind, Solomon urges his readers to get wisdom above all, an honorable call to seek God for what He knows and what He wants to make known.

From the position of eternal love, God sees every person on the planet every day, every hour and every moment…all at once. We are never not in His view. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) In the musings of Job we read this. “His eyes are on the ways of man; he sees their every step…” (Job 34:21)  The Psalmist personalizes God’s omniscience even more. “You know when I sit and when I stand…Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely.” (Psalm 139: 104) The raw power of this concept is frightening yet wonderful because we know that His gaze upon us is benevolent.

And finally, here is the “hug” part as God presents Himself to us as Savior in order to lift our burdens from us. “Praise be to the Lord, to our Savior who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19) God sustains His world and He also sustains us. He sees, He knows and He cares. This is the hope that we all can have. “You who seek God, may your hearts live!” (Psalm 69:32) Look to Him and expect a “hugaday” that your heart may live!