What Do You See?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that people can’t see the forest for the trees. Or we could say they’re so involved in the details of something they do not notice what is important as a whole. You can see so many trees yet you can miss the beauty of a forest. I believe we’re all guilty of this because we can get so wrapped up in our own thinking and perceptions that we miss details, important ones, that can broaden our understanding and horizons.

Last Fall we drove through some forested areas with a few meadows to the right of the roadway. I was especially interested in the different trees along the way, but suddenly my eyes focused on a young deer at the edge of the forest. Had I just concentrated on an individual tree I would have missed seeing one of God’s creatures venturing out of the forest for food. I saw the deer.

Joseph Prince says learning to see what God sees is a powerful key in right believing. So often we’re stuck in wrong believing because it’s what we’ve been taught and heard all our lives. Right believing sees God’s goodness and grace through Jesus. It focuses on what Jesus provided for us, not what we have to do. God’s salvation, goodness, grace, favor, healing and more isn’t self-earned because Jesus already purchased it for you and I. When we change our thinking (renewing it) and believe this truth, we begin to see differently.

Look at the example of when Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath and saw a man standing there with a withered hand (Mark 3). What did Jesus see? A man. A man with a withered hand; in other words, his hand was not normal and he couldn’t use it. Look closer. What did Jesus see? He saw restoration of the man’s hand. He saw God’s more than sufficient grace to make his hand whole. He didn’t see the impossibility in man’s eyes. He didn’t consider the anger it would stir up because of the Sabbath.

Jesus sees differently from you and me. That’s the key here. He doesn’t see the problem. He sees God’s grace and healing abounding supernaturally in the area of weakness. THAT’S how we are to SEE.

Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”. Four words that changed the man’s life because the man did as he was instructed. The result? His hand was completely restored and whole as the other hand.

Let’s continue growing in grace and truth so we can see as God sees. Then we can expect to see God move through us as our eyesight is being transformed to match His!