How are your eyes?

 

It’s been my privilege to visit Pike’s Peak in Colorado several times.  That massive mountain, which towers to 14,115 feet, overshadows a person. The same mountain provides a perch on the world at her summit; her sister mountains poking into the sky to the west, the wide flat plains spread out to the east. Two people reporting a visit to the mountain, one from the foot of it, one from the summit, will tell very different stories. Is just one person telling the truth? No, it is called perspective!  Our experiences and worldview also play a big part in shaping how we will interpret what we see.  

In the opening lines of his letter to the Ephesians (and to us!) Paul includes this prayer: "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." (Ephesians 1:18, NIV)  He asks God to give us faith-filled vision.

How are your eyes?

Do you see as God sees?

Are the choices of your life shaped by an eternal perspective?

The story of David, the Shepherd King of Israel, begins with Samuel’s trip to Jesse’s home, sent there at God’s direction. King Saul had become a rebel, full of pride, resistant to the LORD’S leading in his life, and new king was to be anointed. "When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”  Eliab had the bearing of a leader, a first-born son. Samuel’s trip had been a success, or so the old prophet thought. “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:6-7, NIV)  How differently God sees! 

One by one, Jesse’s sons stood before Samuel, but the Spirit said “No” repeatedly, seven times in fact.  I cannot help but smile at the next part of the story. "So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” (1 Samuel 16:11-12, NIV)  

David, the baby in the family, did not enjoy much standing apparently. He was left out in the field with the flocks even when the prophet of Israel came to visit!  But, he was God’s choice. God saw something in David that no one saw. To be sure, as we get to know this boy, he does reveal an amazing faith, a tenderness towards God. In his lifetime he manages to mess up badly, too, but his heart was good, so much so that he is called ‘a man after God’s own heart.’

If we want to live faithfully, if we desire to know God’s joy and peace, we must see as He sees, our vision informed by the heights of His eternity. We cannot just live for the moment. We must not judge our success or failure from an earthly point of view. I am reminded of Paul’s declaration about life – “if only for this life we have hope, we are of all people most miserable!”  Christ’s call to selflessness, to service, to take us our cross (a way to say die to Self), makes little sense in the immediate. 

The perspective of the rich fool in the Gospel makes far more natural sense to us: “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.”  God promises us a home in His Presence forever and with that perspective life is changed.  Paul, after a life of faithful service, was sitting in a Roman prison, but he writes to Timothy – “I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”  (2 Timothy 1:12)

Pray for godly vision. Pray for ‘eyes of faith’ to see as God sees. The beautiful hymn says it this way:

Be Thou my vision,
O Lord of my heart.
Naught be all else to me
Save that Thou art!
Thou my best thought
By day or by night;
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light.

The word from the Word is one of my beloved prayers of the Bible, a fuller context of the fragment I quoted a moment ago.  I pray it for you, today, my friend, that your ‘vision’ will be godly.  "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." (Ephesians 1:17-21, NIV)  Amen

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision
O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me
Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought
By day or by night
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light

Be Thou my wisdom
Be Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee
And Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father
I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling
And I with Thee one

Riches I heed not
Nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance
Now and always
Thou and Thou only
Be first in my heart
High King of heaven
My treasure Thou art

High King of heaven
When vict'ry is won
May I reach heaven's joys
O bright heaven's Sun
Heart of my own heart
Whatever befall
Still be my vision
O Ruler of all

 

Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne

© Words: Public Domain