Two Sets of Eyes

I was sort of hoping to talk some more today about the Proverbs woman, but another thought has forced its way to the forefront of my mind. This morning I was reading Psalm 13. I could hear the desperation in David's voice as he cried out to God:

Prov. 13:1-2 (Amplified version) How long will you forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I lay up cares within me and have sorrow in my heart day after day? How long shall my enemy exalt himself over me?

Wow, talk about having a wilderness moment! I gather David has felt like he's been in the wilderness for a while now. He feels forgotten. Alone. Can't you hear him asking, "God, where are you???? I'm desperate for you here!" Who hasn't been there? If you live long enough, you are going to encounter a wilderness spot.

And then I read the next verse, the one that really grabbed my attention:

vs. 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten the eyes (of my faith to behold Your face in the pitchlike darkness), lest I sleep the sleep of death. vs. 4 Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken.

Wow! Did you catch it? David is asking God to open his eyes of faith so that he can see God in the pitchlike darkness! Have you ever found yourself in a place so dark and quiet that you couldn't sense, see, feel, hear God-- at all? Where you wondered if He was even there? Wondered if He had left you..alone...to die?

Wilderness moments. Places we encounter where things just don't seem to make any sense. What are we to do? Places of great struggle which exhaust us, that demand from us but offer nothing in return. Do we give in to the despair? The loneliness? The sense of hopelessness that chokes us? Let's see what David did.

vs. 5 But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation. vs. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Did I read that right? In the midst of his despair, does David actually say he will be confident and rejoice? Even sing? HOW--my mind screams out! How can he do that in his wilderness? And then I am directed back to the key found in vs. 3 during his prayer to God to open his eyes of faith so that he can see God in his pitchlike darkness.

He uses his other set of eyes! His eyes of faith. He illustrates such a great contrast to us of the two sets of eyes that we each have. The first half of this Psalm allows us to view, with David, through eyes of flesh. We see the despair. We feel the intense forsaken feelings. We are disoriented by the unrelenting darkness. We are weary from the struggle. We taste defeat. Been there?

But then David turns to the Lord to ask for help so that his eyes of faith can be opened. And, again, we are allowed a glimpse through those eyes alongside David. What is there to see? We see a trustworthy God capable of holding us up in His Mercy and loving-kindness. One Who is too full of mercy and kindness to leave us forever in the state of our wilderness. One Who will not allow our enemy--our situation, our failures, to mock us and jeer, because He will not leave us forsaken and defeated to our enemy's advantage.

In the midst of this vast nothing, staleness, pain, isolation, failure, seeming defeat, we gain our voice and sing with rejoicing because we see again through opened eyes of faith to a situation that, in the light of who God is, looks totally different. We see through eyes of faith straight into the eyes of our God and at that moment, we see not our lack, not our need, not our voids, but we see His bountiful provisions. His abundance of mercy. Abundance of love. His magnificent power at work in our lives.

Our wilderness has not changed. Our view of it has. Why? Because of faith!

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) states:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The Amplified version breaks it down a bit to say that (me paraphrasing) faith is the assurance of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see--or, "faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."

Faith tells us that God has not forsaken us. That we are not defeated. That the pitchlike darkness won't last forever. It reminds us of our Bountiful God, His love and mercy, and our victory through Him. It reminds us that God has a plan for us and that He will most certainly see it completed. It reiterates to us that we are not alone. That no matter how many times we fall down, we are not a failure. That no matter how many mistakes we make, we are not hopeless. We're never cast aside and forgotten by our God. And that no matter what we are up against, regardless of its magnitude, our God is greater still!

In short, faith is seeing through God's eyes what we cannot see through our human, fleshly eyes. It's looking past the here and now. Looking ahead to what God knows is there. Spotting our victory, our restoration, or perhaps our healing. It's a steady beacon of hope to us that with God all things are possible. With God there is no failure. And, if we think about it, faith gently reminds us that this wilderness, this place of forsaken darkness--this too shall pass!



God, help me to see through eyes of faith. Help me so that I am not dictated to and limited by only what my fleshly eyes can see and comprehend. Open my eyes of faith today that I might behold you in all of your Glory! That I might see your endless possibilities for my life. Remind me through those same eyes that in You, I am an overcomer! Amen.