Put Your Glasses On

I have felt like I’m limping into the end of the decade… The year has had its challenges. Surgery, death, sickness. My truck has been towed. Twice. Fall has not been wet, but it’s been cold. (I’m okay with that!) And now, our house is ailing (water pressure tank, heating system) and it keeps us on tender toes just waiting for something to break permanently. $$$

If I keep my eyes on the ”right now”
then all seems hopeless for the helpless.

This is our viewpoint. Way too many times. Right Now. We are easily influenced to view the “whole” by the slice of time that is “now”.

But I have news for you… The slice of life you call “now” is not the whole picture!

God has not stepped off your scene… He promised he would never leave us, nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Just keep looking forward. Don’t be distracted by the current storm. You are not defined by “now”!

God will be there at the right time… Have faith.

Elisha understood this! His servant learned the lesson!

And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
(2 Kings 6:15-17 NKJV)

It would be easy to say all is lost! There’s no hope! How will we get out of this predicament? Solomon knew. If you have no vision, you perish! (Proverbs 29:18) Though Solomon is talking about a different kind of vision, we all understand the limitations of life when we’ve lost our visual acuity.

Any disability is horrible. Agreed? When it comes naturally we probably accept it better than when it is done to us. Consider Samson… He finally succumbed to the allure of Delilah, told his secret, and lost his glory. His power. His victory. (Judges 16:18-21)

Not only is he shorn, but he is captured, bound, and blinded.

Blindness is a horrible thing. 

I had a friend that was blind in one eye due to an auto accident.  He had to learn how to walk all over again because he had no depth of field. Think about the limitations being forced on him.

Of all our senses, blindness is the one thing I would do anything to keep. With my vision, I can at least drive! That’s important to me! To think I would miss seeing life before me would produce overwhelming sadness. I love to drive! Travel. Go.

I can do without my hearing. It’s going anyway! Smell. Touch. Even Taste. But nothing, in my mind, would compare to losing my sight.

Our Vision is a precious sense

We must guard and protect it from disease or injury. As I age, reading glasses have become normal. I have even bought multiple pairs of cheap reading glasses to use in an emergency if I lose my good pair.

Think about what we can see around us… Pictures cannot do the world justice. I feel like I must see it for myself. At the same time, not everything can be experienced just because I see it with my natural eyes, I must also just my insight to understand what I’m witnessing.

Still. There are some things I never want to see. Something I never want to tempt me. But this is happening all the time. The world tries to draw us into their view. “Like what we like,” wails the siren song. The voice of the world wants us to take our eyes off of the prize of the High Calling of Christ. If you accept their view of what you see, then you have been allured away.

Sing that ol’ song… This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open doors. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore!

Remind yourself over and over. I know my Lord, and He knows me! He set me on my path, and I’m doing what I want to do. I know where my focus is!

We must focus on Jesus,
the source and goal of our faith.
He saw the joy ahead of him,
so he endured death on the cross
and ignored the disgrace it brought him.
Then he received the highest position in heaven…
(Hebrews 12:2 GW)

Here’s My Thought Today…

It’s a conscious decision to ensure we can see. I am blessed with only needing reading glasses, but without them, I cannot see the words on the screen or page in front of me. It’s a conscious act to turn for my myriad pair of reading glasses. Cheaters. Throw down’s. Cheap.

Put your glasses on!

Know where you are going and know the pathway there! We don’t get anywhere by accident, but by the Spirit of God. It takes good old fashioned perseverance.

Whatever we had of God’s in our yesteryear is replaced by technology, but nothing replaces a good season of prayer. Faith walking. Personal worship. Focus on the word!

Someone needs to be like Joshua and declare their intentions. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:15)

I am going to keep my glasses on.

Don’t let the world change your song or your message! That’s easily happened! But if it happens…

There’s Hope!

Let’s look at what happened to Samson

Chosen of God to be a judge in the land. A leader to the people. Yet he got his eyes off his purpose. During the battle – distracted and too interested in the enemy. He allowed Delilah to allure him to close to the deception, and she simply rocked him to sleep in the midst of the enemy.

But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes,
and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass;
and he did grind in the prison house.
Judges 16:21

Suddenly… he’s at his lowest point. Imprisoned, blinded, chained and grinding…

He took his attention off of his purpose, and his God.

How do you exist when life throws you lemons? Even if it’s your own mistake. I’ve said it often, we are often our own worse enemy. But if you have ever known Jesus, he is always there for us!

You need to keep your eyes on Jesus. Put your glasses on!

One wise man said you must keep your vision focused.

Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids look straight before you. Study the track of your feet, then all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right hand or to the left; turn your foot aside from evil.
(Proverbs 4:25-27 LITV)

Refuse to be distracted. Keep your guard up. Keep those glasses on! Your help does not come from this world, rather it comes from God! (Psalms 121:1-8)

I’ve Got a Feeling… Everything’s Going to Be Alright!

My circumstances do not determine my outcome. Jesus does. Look not with natural eyes at your circumstances – look with Spiritual Eyes.

How did Samson recover his sight? Well, he didn’t in the natural sense. But there were some spiritual glasses he owned… With his hands on the pillars that supported the stadium, he called out to God!

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said,
O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee,
and strengthen me, I pray thee,
only this once, O God,
that I may be at once 
avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
(Judges 16:28)

While he was grinding away his prison hours, something began to happen. His hair was growing back out, and his heart started reasoning with his circumstances. Imagine his conversations… Perhaps he felt his prayers were unheard, bouncing back from heaven as if a stone wall existed between him and God.

Remember. It’s God’s timing!
Know this. It’s not your timing!

Maybe this is where we’ve all been too many times. Struggling for recovery, but not sensing our results.

Summary

It’s simple. There’s a principle at work here. The Psalmist says it like this.

When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
(Psalms 27:2-5 NKJV)