Fixing our Eyes

“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

In 2015, the New York Times ran an article written by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz who wrote of his experience when he questioned people on social media about questions they had regarding God. The third most expressed question was heartbreaking - ‘Why does God hate me?’ It proves to me that the power of emotions will always threaten the power of truth. Feelings are wonderful indicators, but never were they meant to be dictators. How is it that truth so easily gets lost when the marriage ends…the partner dies…the diagnosis comes? God never intended for us to co-exist with sin and sickness; we can thank Satan for that. When did we start assigning God’s goodness based on our desired outcomes?

In Seeing Beautiful Again, Lysa TerKeurst writes, ‘The most devastating spiritual crisis isn’t when we wonder why God isn’t doing something. It’s when we become utterly convinced, He no longer cares…What makes faith fall apart isn’t doubt. It’s becoming too certain of the wrong things’ p.145. As if our pain isn’t enough, we compound our suffering by diminishing God’s character. There is no greater grief than the grief we feel when it seems God has let us down. We take our limited perception of our life and convince ourselves that because God didn’t say yes to one set of circumstances, that He cannot be trusted in any of our circumstances. Our battle cry is ‘God is good’ when things are going well. But when they don’t, the temptation is to give God the grade according to our feelings. If we feel our situation is an ‘F’ we give God an ‘F’.

‘It’s hard when we are living in that space where our head knows God can do anything but our heart is heavy because He’s not doing what we are hoping for, what we’ve prayed for, what we’ve believed for, for a long while’ p. 146. We walk a prideful path when we determine how God should have responded…when God should have responded…how God better respond. God sees the full story of our lives and fully understands the experiences we need to live out His best will for our lives. We can only partially see what good is ours up ahead while He sees the completed and actual good that He is bringing about. The unseen is full of the greatness of God… the unseen is complete in its perfection…the unseen is the finished work of a Father who planned meticulously and lovingly since our first breath. We will walk in the freedom of truth when we can utter ‘God is good’ even with tears streaming down our face.