DAY 06 | SEEING

centering thought

“God loves your dream of being able to look back on the tough stuff of your life and to see his broader context rounding your edges of sorrow and discontent …”

encouragement from God’s word 

Read: ISAIAH 55:9

devotional direction  

Imagine being in an optometrist’s office during your child’s first eye exam. After completing the checkup, the optometrist asks you to sit in the patient’s chair for a moment and then hands you a pair of eyeglasses. She turns off the lights, flashes an illuminated eye chart onto the wall, and asks you to put on the glasses. You strain to make out the giant “E” at the top of the chart but after closing one eye and then the other and craning forward and squinting for all you’re worth, you give up. You know the “E” is there, but from behind these lenses, you simply cannot make it out.

“This is your child’s uncorrected vision,” the doctor says gently. “This is what she sees each day at school.”

You sit back in the chair, deflated. So much about her struggles at school now make sense. “You’ve got to be kidding …” you murmur. You glance at your child, who subtly shrugs her shoulders as if to say, “Who knew?”

The fix is an easy one: the child will wear glasses at school. And the relief you feel is palpable. Finally … an explanation for what was going on.

Ah, the usefulness of fresh perspective. At last we can see what was once unseen! At last there are answers to niggling questions. At last there are reasons for conundrums we face. 

In the book of Isaiah, Jehovah God assures us that this all-knowing, all-understanding perspective is one that he possesses, every moment, every day. And like that compassionate optometrist, we can come to him and ask for a peek through the lenses he wears. In communing with him, we gain divine insight. We see what was previously unseen.

question to ponder

What current, troubling situation requires that you perceive it through a different set of lenses?