WHEN WE CANNOT SEE

It may be pressing the Word, but I think not. All through Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, we are told by the Lord that “the just shall live by faith.” Our confidence is NOT grounded in what we can see because our external and internal vision has been impaired by brokenness and sin. As Martin Luther wrote in his hymn A Mighty Fortress, “If we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.’’

If we are going to indeed walk by, live by faith and not by our own “sight”, insight, experience, wisdom resources or strength, then God must teach us another way to live. He tells us plainly through the prophet Isaiah that His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts. That is why the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:2 that our minds must be renewed by the Holy Spirit.

 

God has given to every follower of Jesus Christ a new heart and a new spirit. The Holy Spirit has become LIFE within us and it is by THAT resurrection Life of Jesus lived out in the Holy Spirit’s power that we are being transformed from the inside out to be, to live like Jesus Christ. It’s not “information in our heads that we somehow need to get into our hearts” but it is the Life of the Holy Spirit in us revealing the things of Jesus to us (making them real and applicable) and changing the way we think and see the world.

 

We, too often, forget how utterly dependent we are on the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, He said, we can do nothing. In Psalm 32:8 the Lord God declares, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” No matter how long I have followed the Lord, that reality never changes. He is the Lord, my Shepherd. I am not a self-guided sheep, sufficient for living out the radical new Life I’ve been given in Christ Jesus. It’s simply not lived out through human ability.

 

There are times when cannot see how or where the Lord is leading. The Word of God gives clear direction on how to live life ethically, relationally, and practically in the Holy Spirit’s power. But life-directions, guidance in major movements of following the Lord cannot be “made up” from what we merely see as reasonable or logical.

 

Following the Lord Jesus is not always clear. Anointing and ministry are guided by Him and at times we find ourselves without clear vision. That is not a cause to fall into fear that somehow we have “fallen between the cracks” in the purpose of God.  Even in Psalm 23, the song of the Good Shepherd we read, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” There are times when we cannot see through no fault of our own.

 

God speaks through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the Name of the Lord and rely on his God.” Not knowing cannot be equated with God not caring nor is it a sign of His absence. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. My “not seeing” simply means I can’t see just now. My confidence in God doesn’t need to waver. He sees all things crystal clearly!

 

In such darkness, some panic and think that they have to make things work on their own since it seems God’s not “doing His Job.” But this is what the Lord God says in Isaiah 50:11, “Behold, all you who kindle your own fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from My Hand: you shall lie down in torment.” The life of the Kingdom is lived by the power of God or not at all. Relying on our own “light”, God says, brings disaster!

 

If you are in the dark just now, trust in the Lord. He is working and sometimes if we could see what He is doing we might panic about how God could work things out. God protects our hearts and minds and sometimes it’s by “keeping us I the dark as He guides us.

 

The Lord spoke through Isaiah again about this very thing in Isaiah 42:16, “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I will not leave then undone.”

 

Trusting the Lord when we cannot see will train our hearts and minds to trust Him always, even more than what we can see when He makes the darkness to turn to light before us, making the way smooth. Your Shepherd will never stop leading and guiding His own sheep. You can trust Him always; even in what looks sightless to us. Remember, our lives are not unfathomable to Him; ever.