Eyes to See
The Pharisees were trained and schooled to recognize God, to hear His voice and to know what God was saying. They looked for something that was so obviously close, but never saw Him. When He actually came on that Christmas, they did not even recognize Him.
In fact, even when He spoke, they hardened their hearts and said, “No, that’s not true!”
The Bible says our hearts, like that of the Pharisees, can get calloused against God. It is not intentional, but our hearts get dull. We have to recondition them and reopen our eyes to see Him afresh.
“… today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 4:7).
Our hearts can get hard even the midst of the Christmas season. Even when God shows up and speaks to us, we can be like the Pharisees because our hearts are already on a side. If we are not careful, God will show up and we will not see Him.
When we first accept Christ, we see God everywhere. We see Him working in our lives and working in others. Then, as time goes on, our eyes get dull. He does not disappear or fall back into the shadows; we just do not see Him as much.
God is working but can we see Him? The question is, are we listening?
How do we condition our hearts to be able to see Him? We have to recondition our ears. After about five years as a Christian, you will notice that your ears and eyes will start to get dull. Your heart starts to get calloused. It is not something intentional to drift away from God. However, to get back close to Him must be intentional.
How do we sensitize our eyes?
Train Your Eyes to See His Presence
We have to ask him and be intentional about it. Even David said, “God, open my eyes.”
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18).
If we are not careful, we will not see God very much anymore. We have to be intentional about it. We have to retrain our eyes to look for evidences of God’s presence, not evidences of God’s absence. God is saying we have to recondition our eyes because He is everywhere. Watch for Him.
Now, I have to admit that sometimes God is silent. There are times in my life when He seems silent. Yet, I know that when He is silent, it does not mean He is far away or He left on vacation. No, it means He is still doing something. When God seems silent, He is building something in us that can only be built in the silence.
Commitment can only be built when God is silent.
Understand How His Silence Builds the Treasure of Commitment
When all the feel-goods, the popularity, the fluffs and the emotions are gone, then commitment can now be built. It is when those are gone that we now choose to remain committed. Now we have built a depth to our life.
Commitment is Staying True to a Worthy Decision Long After the Emotion of Making That Decision has Passed.
God is never far from us. When there is a silence, He is building in us commitment and endurance because we are going to need that for our family, our vocation, our friendships and for ministry.
As we are reconditioning our hearts, here is one of the most important keys:
Cultivate a Spirit of Gratitude
I think God is more concerned about our gratitude than just about anything else. When we have a spirit of gratitude, we see God everywhere. When we lose a spirit of gratitude, we stop seeing God everywhere. It is not a gratitude that is in response to somebody doing good or giving us something; it is a spirit of gratitude whether something good happens or not.
Demote Yourself Back to Humility as Often as Needed in Order to Keep Your Heart Pure
God is very concerned that our hearts stay protected and pure. Proverbs says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).
If our heart is corrupted, we get blind. Sometimes it is better just to demote ourselves back to humility to protect our heart. We will see God afresh and in the end, that makes more of a difference than anything else.]
