Sparkling Eyes

Posted on by korgrocker

“Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die. Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.”
Psalm 13:3-4 NLT

David, once again, is giving God a hard time. Is he getting frustrated with God for a lack of answers to his prayers, or a lack of action to sort out the problems he is having with his enemies, whoever they are? But whatever the issue, David does seem to be trying to twist God’s arm, by telling Him that unless He does something about the situation then He will lose the “man after His own heart” that He had already installed as King, or, if the Psalm was written in the days when David was on the run from Saul, who was the King designate.

David prays that God will “restore the sparkle to [his] eyes, or [he] will die”. It has been said that our eyes are windows into our souls. And it is true that when we look into someone’s eyes we see life. We see a living person with eyes that tell what is going on within them. If someone won’t look us in the eye then we know they have something to hide. In their eyes, we see their mood, be it happy or sad, anxious or self-assured. David obviously suspected that his eyes were giving out signs of worry about his enemies, or stress about the situation in which he was in. And, understandably, he wanted to return to that state of health and vitality, where his eyes sent out a message of positivity to those around him. 

In Matthew 6:22-23, we read what Jesus taught about our eyes. He said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” What Jesus was saying was that someone with a healthy eye was a person who understood the things of God and who could discern right and wrong, and knew all about living God’s way, saved by His grace. Conversely, a person with an unhealthy eye represents most people around us, who know nothing about God and don’t want to know anything about Him either. They want to continue to live in their sin, effectively living with unhealthy eyes in a world of darkness. These are spiritually blind people and, sadly, we can even find them in our congregations and fellowships, people who Paul warned Timothy about, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” (2 Timothy 3:5).

So, dear fellow pilgrims, how are your eyes this morning? Sparkling or dull? Bright or dark? David seemed to imply that it was God’s responsibility to make his eyes sparkle. But is it? We can obviously pray as David did, for restoration, and God will indeed answer our prayers, perhaps by taking us to a cross at a place called Calvary. There His Son died for our sins, taking on the punishment that we deserved instead. And as we stare into His loving face, we feel “the things of earth [going] strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”. We will find that our eyes are sparkling again, our spirits revived, perspectives restored, sins forgiven.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You that we can look forward with sparkling eyes, to a life with You for all eternity. We pray that those around us can see in our eyes a reflection of the Heavenly shores, twinkling in the distance. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Eye Contact

Posted on by korgrocker

“He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! His neighbours and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?””
John 9:7-10 NLT

A blind person has many disadvantages and amongst them is the lack of ability in making eye contact with someone they are conversing with. For those of us with normal sight, eye contact is something we take for granted, not always appreciating how important it is when we interact with someone. We receive non-verbal feedback, helping us to understand what is being said. Maintaining eye contact demonstrates confidence, giving weight to what we are saying. So often we look into another person’s eyes and it is as though we are looking into their very souls. But a blind person cannot achieve the same results in a conversation unless they learn to compensate in some other way.

Our eyes are a primary source of information, feeding our minds with all that we see. Jesus said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is” (Matthew 6:22-23). We need to process all that comes in through our eyes in a healthy way, discerning what is bad for us so that we can filter it out and leave the good. Eyes that focus on sinful images will end up darkening our souls and shutting out the good things we need to focus on.

A blind person in many ways is unable to allow bad things to enter their eye gate. They can’t watch pornography, or movies that are unwholesome. But their lives are the poorer for being unable to see the good things in life. A sunrise or sunset. The wonderful beauty of flowers in Spring. God created us to have eyes that see all that He has made. 

In the account of the blind man, the man’s neighbours were finding it hard to recognise him, because he was now engaging them with his eyes. Whereas before he looked anywhere except at them, he was now focusing on their faces and this new ability transformed him so much that his neighbours were having difficulty recognising him.

God sees all and we cannot escape his gaze. He sees right into our souls, knowing every detail of our lives. And we can look into His face, in faith that the contact through our eyes is a part of our communication with Him. John’s spiritual eyes saw amazing scenes in Heaven, as we read in Revelation. And we too can enjoy a glimpse of Heavenly realms, through the reading of Scripture. Unless our eyes read the Bible we will learn nothing about God and His ways. And in faith we pray, “seeing” with our eyes the positive outcome of our prayers. But in our spirits what are we seeing today? If very little we lift up our eyes and make eye contact with our Heavenly Father. There we will find all we need to see.

Dear Father God. Thank You for all Your good gifts, all Your answers to our prayers, and for Jesus, our wonderful and gracious Saviour. Amen.

Come and See

Posted on by korgrocker

“Come and see what God has done, 
His awesome deeds for mankind! 
He turned the sea into dry land, 
they passed through the waters on foot – 
come, let us rejoice in Him. 
Come and hear, all you who fear God; 
let me tell you what He has done for me.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭66:5-6, 16‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

“Come and see”. “Come and hear”. God invites us to use our eyes and ears to check out all the wonderful things He has done for us. Traditional Jewish families to this day remember the Biblical events such as crossing the Red Sea, an event mentioned in the verses today. But what about God’s ability to wow us with His abilities in 21st Century Scotland? Or in the societies within which we live? Personally, God never ceases to amaze me as I wander around the woodland paths close to where I live. His creation shouts out His wonderful acts to me and those around me – if we look for it. The plant life in its abundance. The trees growing straight and strong. The birds, filling the air with their music. The deer crossing my path just a few yards ahead. The rodents grubbing around near the forest streams. Even occasionally a fox or two, slinking away into the undergrowth. Further afield, I continue to be amazed by beautiful sunsets and sunrises. The news reports of wonderful creatures not found before. The physicists making discoveries about nuclear particles. The medical scientists researching and finding ways to treat disease. The list is endless. Our natural world is a wonderful testimony to God’s “awesome deeds for mankind”. Sadly, the evolutionists will say this all happened by chance, missing out on the opportunity to be able to rejoice in our wonderful God, missing out on the opportunity to thank our Creator for His awesome deeds. 

But it doesn’t stop there. God also does wonderful things in the realms of the supernatural. Through the power of His Spirit as He permeates the world and people within it. I look back in my life and remember occasions where things could have gone horribly wrong, but they didn’t because God did something awesome. Coincidence or chance the sceptic might say. But to me there have been too many occasions where God has moved in response to prayers, bringing outcomes that fall into the category of “His awesome deeds”. I would go as far as to call some of them “miracles”. And in particular the situation of my own daughter’s healing from encephalitis, a virus attacking her brain with such severity that the medics were convinced that her lengthy time in hospital would not end well. But after her total recovery, one of the doctors wrote on her notes, “This is a miracle”. And as a family we thank God continually for His miraculous intervention, taking every opportunity to tell what He has done for us.

In verse 16 of today’s Psalm, the Psalmist invites those people around him to listen to what God has done for him. Those of us who are Christians have a story to tell. A story of the journey in which God found us and we responded to His grace and love. A story that may not contain the earth shattering events such as the crossing of the Red Sea, but it will contain those personal details of the wonder of what our loving Heavenly Father has done in our lives. I could tell you of drug addicts whose lives have been transformed by the power of God working in their lives. I could tell you of miracles of healings that have brought people back from the very gates of Heaven. But perhaps the biggest miracle is the one in which we have been transformed from a dismal life in the kingdom of darkness into citizenship of the Kingdom of Light. Financially it cost me nothing, but it cost Jesus everything, even His very life on that cross at Calvary. And by so doing we are assured a future with the very Person who does “awesome deeds for mankind”. So I invite you today – “Come and see” and “Come and hear”. “Let me tell” – that’s what I will be doing and saying, grabbing every opportunity to invite those around me to join me in this wonderful life, life with our loving and gracious Heavenly Creator God.