Have you noticed how at an especial sports event or a performance everyone is focused only on the main court, the field or the stage, no one pays attention to what is going on around them. Many times we do the same thing in our life, we concentrate on the big things, the main events and somehow we disregard the daily “little” things in life. The same way we may be focusing on something we have been praying for and we keep thinking that our prayers will be answered in a certain way when God does something completely unexpected and indescribably better. We are looking one way and God is moving in the opposite direction. We need a new way of seeing things!
“I am at war with the obvious” I love this statement made by William Eggleston, an American photographer. The www.freedictionary.com describes obvious as easily perceived or understood, and that is what we are getting used to, things that we can comprehend quickly because there seems to be no time to ponder, contemplate or even think. Are we too distracted, too busy, too entangled in our lives or just too lazy to go deeper?
Eggleston believed that “by looking patiently at what others ignore or look away from, interesting things can be seen.”* I believe the key word here is patiently!
We keep wanting to see something that we can understand. We ask God to give us a sign, even if it is just a small one, but sometimes we get nothing, like when Elijah was praying for rain. “Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and fell to the ground and prayed. Then he said to his servant, ‘go and look out toward the sea.’ The servant went and looked, but he returned to Elijah and said, ‘I didn’t see anything.’ Seven times Elijah told him to go and look, and seven times he went.” (1 Kings 18:42-43) He kept praying and believing even when there was nothing to show that his prayers were being answered. He could have doubted, but he didn’t have to see with his eyes what he knew God could do. Even before he started praying he declared that God was going to send rain. “Elijah said to Ahab,’ go and enjoy a good meal! For I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!” (1 Kings 18:41)
That is how God operates; He doesn’t work in the obvious, in the expected or in the easy. He is God; He does big things and works in the impossible, the improbable and the amazing!
For our journey of faith we need a new mindset, we need to let go our old views based only on logic. We need to be prepared to see further than we are used to and to go deeper than we think possible. Remember when Jesus was walking and a multitude of people were around him and a woman who had been sick for twelve years “came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe… immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed.” (Mark 5:27-29) When Jesus realized what had happened, He asked who had touched his clothes, but the disciples couldn’t understand Him… everyone was touching his clothes! God’s power can be seen, of course, but more than that it is felt.
“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
If we only focus on what we can see and understand then we will not be prepared for the battle and for the blessings, because there is so much more than we can see. “We live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
We can’t let our sight determine the extent of God’s reach, and the greatness of His plans for us. Why do we trust our eyes more than we trust Him? When will we realize that we can’t guess God, we can’t see everything He is doing, but we can hold on to Him and let Him guide us. “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
*http://www.egglestontrust.com/df_afterword.html
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