As I prayed through the fact that God doesn’t see our sin (Psalm 103:12), I tried to conceptualize how, being omnipotent, He could possibly “not see” my human distractions and missteps when He was literally inside this vessel with me, experiencing the same things I was.

I think it’s kind of like an e-store filter. He filters to our good (haha His “size”), letting the evil fall out of His search results. He can see the whole store’s availability (our entire lives, all at once), but just as I would filter out men’s clothing, He too filters out the sin of His children.

Stated another way: It’s kind of like a prospector in the old west. God is in the flow of the river, IS the river. He gifts the river and its contents to the Prospector, and the Prospector always has His pan in the water, seeking its most-valuable contents. As the river flows, Jesus gently dips the screen, seeking only the most valuable minerals in the water. The dirt and silt flow freely through the pan, creating a filthy, shadowy, cloud in the water around the gold. But when the prospector pulls the pan from the water to review His prize…all He sees is gold.

We are infinitely valuable. We are gold refined in fire. We forget our value sometimes because the fire FEELS so hot, that we forget we’re always in-flow with the cooling affects of the river, the River itself. If you’re sensing the shadows around you, the muddy mess that clouds your vision to your infinite worth, know it’s just part of the process. You’re being refined into a tool with purpose, and the river flows all around you, washing the mud away, always.

We are made in His image and are called to be prospectors, too. We’re called to seek the value in others, to assist in removing them from the mud. We too are in the heart of The River than can wash them clean. We walk others through their refining process, as He so lovingly has done for us.

The river glitters with undiscovered gold. It has no idea it’s valuable and has purpose. Let’s get to sifting for our brothers and sisters who don’t know they glitter.