Looking without seeing is a blinding condition in more ways that one! I can drive the same road day after day, week after week without noticing the environment around me. Suddenly, I will see something as if for the first time that isn’t new. Though I was looking, I wasn’t truly seeing! My eyes were not open to the obvious.
Does anyone else have the same problem?
“Keep your eyes open for God,
watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.”
Psalm 105:4 MSG
By watching closely, we will see evidence of God all around us.
Ezekiel
God brought Ezekiel to the temple court – the place where the priests minister. When Ezekiel looked, he saw a “hole” in the wall.
“Then he brought me to the entrance to the court.
I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall.
He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.”
So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.”
Ezekiel 8: 7-8
When Ezekiel began digging “into the wall”, a doorway became visible. Looking, seeing, and digging wasn’t enough! God asked Ezekiel to go through the doorway to look harder, more intentionally, at the condition of his city.
He challenged Ezekiel, “Look! Observe! Pay attention!
What Ezekiel saw was disturbing!
Looking Personally
I assist hurting people every week as they wade through destructive life circumstances, helping them “look” at the truth of God’s word personally and “see” hope in Christ. My work with others often awakens a fresh awareness of areas needed in my own personal development and healing journey.
God desires for each us to be on a continuing trajectory to health and wholeness. I have come a long way, but have a long way to go.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me was not without effect.”
I Corinthians 15:10
What you see now is not what I used to be! Thankfulness for all God has done is appropriate. Allowing myself to be blinded to the need for continued personal growth, however, is harmful. Change is not optional, but rather mandatory, for Christians!
As a lay minister, it is often in this place of assisting others that my own “gaps” and “holes” become most evident. It is the perfect place for God to reveal points of His unfinished work.
“Stop! Look closer!” I’ll sense Him say.
When I am willing to look, He allows me to see more broken jagged edges!
Holy Spirit reveals hidden places of self-protection, negative thought patterns and recurring destructive behaviours. Blinded by familiarity, these patterns would otherwise go unnoticed.
It amazes me how much of life can be lived without any serious looking or digging!
Only when I am willing to become honest before God and others will the avenue of healing and liberty be exposed to view. Thankful for victories past, I prepare to work on present trouble spots! In the space between past and future I feel the burden of now — fragile, exposed, and vulnerable.
Progress
Looking isn’t easy! The depravity within and without is wearying, even horrifying! My willingness to see, however, precedes any victory to come.
God will not do the work for me; He waits for my active participation in the process. I must look with intention! Purposefully digging beneath protective layers requires obedience to open the door of my heart and mind to His examination.
In the looking, Christ is with me.
He is enough in the digging.
In the opening, He is present.
The cross has paid the price.
In my groping,
I find “It is finished!”
My eyes turn back to the Bible, as I continue to read
“In the morning
the word of the LORD came to me…”
Ezekiel 12:8
There is always a morning! A new day! A fresh opportunity!
His Word transcends…
Truth penetrates…
Light overcomes…
There must be present a purposeful intention both inwardly and outwardly; never so outwardly focused I am inwardly complacent nor inwardly minded that I am outwardly negligent.
God was the One who directed Ezekiel’s sightline. He is willing and able to aim my own.
With a Purpose
It is possible to maintain a quiet trust and confidince embedded within a surrendered heart. He turns my gaze, focusing my vision on what He wants me to see and become.
When He is says, “Dig”, I will have the strength to respond! When He says, “Look”, I will have the grace to see. Then, and only then, will He give me the wisdom to open the doorway to the next place of deliverance and freedom.
In it all, we see Christ and His divine purpose:
“We look at this Son and see the God
who cannot be seen.
We look at this Son and see God’s
original purpose in everything created.”
Colossians 1: 15 MSG
It is astonishing to realize that in everything Christ can be seen when we are willing to look. Regardless of circumstances, God’s wonder is revealed in every direction, including our common ordinary.
We look
to see,
surrendered,
moving beyond,
ever forward
from strength to strength.
The courage of one, raises the tidal mark of bravery for others. As one person strides forward in victory, others are inspired to take similar fragile steps. Is this not the appearance of faith? Looking and seeing! Keeping our eyes constantly open for the movements of God!
**********
Personal testimonies worth sharing again: