15. Clear eyes…
I counsel you to buy from me… salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Revelation 3:17-18
I pray 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 his holy people, and his incomparable great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-19
- Salve for my eyes…
How important is it that we see clearly? When I began university I found myself struggling to read the board at the front of the lecture theatre. One lecturer in particular spoke very fast and wrote copious notes on the board (yes it was a blackboard and chalk, I’m showing my age). Without sight of the notes I was unable to make sense of the lecture. So I got myself some glasses which I have been wearing ever since to give me the eyesight I need to read, drive, see people clearly. Without them life is a blur.
Our eyes are two of the most important organs in our body and allow us, when they are functioning well, to live active and fulfilling lives. They give us independence. They help us appreciate colour, shape, the beauty of a simple flower or a work of art. Those who lose their sight will adapt but I don’t think one of them would say they prefer it that way.
Just as important as our physical eyes are what Paul refers to as the eyes of your heart. Our ability to see in the spiritual realm.
When Joshua, Caleb, and the ten other leaders of the Israelite people went into the land of Canaan (read about it in Numbers 13), the ten saw giants who could not be overcome and believed that the land could not be taken. Joshua and Caleb believed first that they would be able to conquer the land and take it for the Israelite people and then saw the potential, the fruit of the land, and were not afraid.
Get the difference? The ten men who saw with their physical eyes all the dangers and perils then believed that there was no hope of taking the land for the Israelites. Joshua and Caleb chose to see with their spiritual eyes first by believing that God was going before them and then they saw with their physical eyes the opportunities that lay in the land.
How, then, do we use our spiritual eyes, how do we buy salve, ointment, from God to help us see what he sees? Belief and faith are the salve that God is talking about that helps us to see the future he has planned for each of us. Then we add in the component of trust that opens the eyes of our hearts to enable us to see great and marvellous things. We will see the great power of our God and our glorious inheritance in him.
God is saying to us:
Trust me. Don’t look at the world through your physical eyes and see despair and hopelessness. Let me open the eyes of your spirit. Let me apply the salve of faith, belief, trust to them and show you the dance that we will dance together. Others will try to show you a different, macabre, fearful, and miserable dance but this dance is not your dance. With me, see the dance of freedom, exhilaration, power, majesty that we will dance together.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of sight that enables me to see the world as you intend it to be. To see hope, joy, love, and a future that is bright and clear. I pray for your anointing of faith, belief, hope today that will open my eyes up to the glorious riches of your kingdom here on earth.
Amen
Action: Today, just close your eyes for a moment and pray the prayer above. Ask for God to apply salve to your eyes. Wait quietly and allow God to move, to open the eyes of your heart. Then open your eyes and step into your day with renewed vision for the opportunities he will open up to you as you see what he shows you.
Journal your thoughts:
