Is It Time to Have Your Eyes Checked?
Rather listen to this blog? Listen to “Is It Time to Have Your Eyes Checked?”
I have worn glasses for years - reading glasses really. My distance vision is excellent, but not texts that are up-close. For the last few years, though, I’ve worn contacts that provide optics all the time. Also, for the last few years, I’ve noticed if I’m not wearing my contacts or glasses, I literally cannot see the text if I’m trying to read something.
As you can imagine, this is extremely frustrating. The other day I had taken off my glasses in one room and then walked into another where, while I was in the second room, I attempted to read a document I had picked up. I couldn’t see the words at all - the whole page just looked like one big blur. I had to go back to the first room to get my glasses! In my frustration, however, the Lord granted me a thought.
God is all around us, in us, and with us always, but how often do we actually see Him? I don’t just mean in the celebrations, hymns, prayers, triumphs, and praises, but also the tragedies, dirges, frustrations, fears, anxious moments, and chaos of uncertainty. How many times have I been straining to see God right in front of my face, when all I had to do was look up and around to see clearly?
Many of the miracles Jesus performed were for those who were blind. I see so many applications in Matthew 20:29-34. Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, and two blind men started shouting, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us,” when they heard Jesus was walking by. Jesus stopped to ask them what they wanted. Their answer was, “Lord, we want our sight.” Jesus touched them and immediately they could see. Such a simple moment. The men wanted their sight, and Jesus gave it to them.
Do we? Do we truly want to see God and the truth of God, or do we purposefully take off our glasses or remove our contacts, so God is blurry, but the world is clear? Because that’s so much easier, isn’t it? To just go with the flow and give in to the world. It’s not THAT bad, is it?
YES, it is, and worse, if we don’t use the sight Jesus gave us. Jesus told us that as believers, we would have many troubles in this world. There is no easy road: It is God’s road or the world’s. Consider carefully which one to travel, because both lead to eternity, but two very different versions.
As believers, we WILL have trouble, and really - the more trouble you have, the more solidly you’re traveling God’s road because Satan wants you off that one and onto his, so he will attack you. But, when that happens, instead of wailing and asking where God is, why is He doing this to us, or allowing it to happen to us, or the myriad of other ways we blind ourselves to God’s presence in our lives, let’s remember this story from the Old Testament:
Elisha the prophet was advising the king of Israel against their enemies the Arameans. The King of Aram kept trying to ambush the Israelites, but every time Elisha warned the Israelites about it. The Arameans were thwarted so many times that their king thought there was a traitor amongst them. His people told them the Israelites had Elisha advising them, so the Aramean king sent an army of chariots and soldiers to surround the town where Elisha was staying. Elisha’s servant saw the army that surrounded them and was terrified. Elisha told him not to be afraid. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes Lord, so that he may see.” God opened the eyes of the servant, and what he saw was an even bigger army of chariots of fire surrounding the town (2 Kings 6:8-23).
Do YOU see? Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” We have the power and authority as children of God to see through His eyes, so why don’t we? Because we are using the wrong lens or none at all.
Using the correct lens, though, takes practice and perspective. It requires the discipline of faith (by the definition of Hebrews 11:1, “Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”), and the discipleship of showing the world what it means to live for Christ.
It is easy to see with God’s lens when things are good. It’s not so easy when things are tough. But, even a microscopic shift in where we’re looking can change everything.
If you’re not seeing God everywhere in your life and at all times, then maybe it’s time you had your eyes checked. It could be you need glasses, or maybe you already have them and need a new prescription. Because just as text becomes clear for me when I put my glasses on, the lens of God will make God clear to you.
AMEN.
