Eyes

Call me silly but I have been thinking lots about eyes lately.  Have you ever noticed how much you can tell about a person and their life by their eyes?  Ask any loving mother and she can certainly tell you.  Ever notice how someone who loves the Lord has eyes that dance with joy or those living in sin show darkness in their eyes. What about the orphan child with the blank stare showing a dull look in their eyes.  If you study a persons eyes, so often you can even determine if they are speaking truth.  Although, sometimes it seems easier to not know! :( So it made me wonder, what does the Bible say about the eyes?  Perhaps one of the best verses I found was Matthew 6:22. It says, "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,"  Wow!!!  Perhaps that is why you can see so much in the eyes.

Another incredible verse is:

"For this people’s heart has become calloused;  they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." Matthew 13:15-17

Have you also noticed that Adam and Eve's eyes that were opened when they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. Not their hearts or their minds but their eyes.   As Christians, we speak of eyes often perhaps not even giving real thought to it.  We pray that the Lord open their eyes but do we think about it.  Do we realize that it is not just Christianese but truly that "the eyes are the lamp of the body"?  Do we realize that we are asking for their "while body to be full of light?"  That is an incredibly amazing thought!!!

Once God puts something on your heart, the simplest of things can be so complex and yet at the same time more simple than ever before.  Never again will I take lightly the truths or importance held by our very eyes.  I dare you. . .really look at people eyes for there you may see their heart also. Although, I promise, at times the truths you see there will be hard.

 

Finding Truth

I have been delayed in posting. It is not because I didn't have anything to say but rather the opposite. My mind and heart have been overflowing. One of the things that I find about blogging is that I must write as soon as God lays something on my heart. Otherwise my muddled mind begins to pile all sorts of thoughts to the one I am holding for the next blog. So as I sit down today to write this. . .it is incredibly mixed up. Where do I begin and how much of the overflow can I share in one short blog.

So I am going to sit on the topic of Job. I don't know about you but this has never been a favorite book of mine. Who in their right mind would think of Job as a favorite? But yet it is rich with so much to learn. I admire Job in many ways. He was strong in the Lord. Through most of his trials, he still trusted in God. He understood his smallness and God's greatness.

"Then Job answered the Lord and said:“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”"  Job 40:3-5

His story is a beautiful picture of repentance and restoration.

"Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent[a] in dust and ashes.”" Job 42:1-6

I have thought a lot about the fact that God never told Job why he endured all he did.  Don't we always want to know why?  But I feel like the Lord revealed a simple reason.  PRIDE.  That nasty terrible thing that leads to death in many ways.  Had Job known why he was picked and just how much the Lord loved him. . . pride would surely have reared it's ugly head.  But I also think of Romans 8:16-17.

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

The question it provokes is why do we think everything is suppose to be easy.  Believe me, I am a big wimp so this idea of suffering is not one I cherish. But it has been one I am convicted of.  Truly we want our nice, easy, simple life but what about getting our hands dirty for God. What about suffering for Him? What makes us think that our time here should be about self comfort or happiness?  How would it look if I truly laid down my life for Him?

I believe that a life laid down for Him is full of joy, hope, redemption, but also heartache.  I believe to see all the positives then we must endure some negatives.  Now to try to put this into practice.   Then comes the real rub.  Because there are things we are passionate about that truly matter to God and these are pretty easy to do.  But what about the ways that aren't so comfortable.  Those that really make our life seem burdened at times.  It might be mission trips, orphans, helping the homeless, etc.  But it always deals with letting hurting people become part of our life. It always gets messy. BUT GOD is there when we have a heart for what matters to Him.  It is then that we see His hand in such a way that He becomes incredibly real to us. So my prayer these days is that I will have a heart for what matters to God.  Please let it be so Lord.