Opened eyes 

(2 Kings 6.8-23) 

Perceptions...either we see things from the perspective of the finite or the infinite. The degree of limitation is left to your point of view.

I used to say that I was neither an 'optimist' nor a 'pessimist,' I was a 'realist.' After decades of being a 'realist' I finally discovered there is a freedom in trying to see things from a perspective of the spiritual world around me. I don't know that I am very successful in doing this, but I try.

Several years ago I heard a grief 'expert' say that "denial is the strongest form of coping." Many folks will accuse someone who is trying to walk by faith, and see things from a perspective of faith, as being in 'denial.'

Having an understanding that the spiritual forces God sends to surround us are stronger than the evil forces at work in the world is not being in denial. It is acknowledging a different form of reality than that defined by mass, space, time and gravity.

Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria that "God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

We talk a lot about 'truth.' We hear adamant statements about 'truth,' each of which is describing something from someone's perspective. Probably, the reality of truth is not totally perceivable from any temporal perspective.

The apostle Paul talked about our perceptions as 'looking through a glass darkly...' - tinted, filtered, biased, distorted and limited.

That's how we get ourselves so worked up over situations, discussions, events and people. We don't have a good perspective. We aren't seeing things from an eternal, supernatural, spiritual perspective. 

We need to understand the warning on the right rear view mirror, "objects are closer than they appear" as applying to the spiritual world around us. God is near. He is at work in our lives and in the world around us. There are forces of evil, but there are also forces of God at hand!

God, please open my eyes so I can see you at work in the lives of those around me. Help me not to be fearful of situations but to understand there are parties involved who my eyes can't see.