How to See Clearly - Martin Wiles

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

~1 Kings 19:9 NLT

None of us had ever experienced what we were about to do.

Eight couples from our church traveled to a cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for a marriage retreat. My wife and I had stayed in several cabins over the years—some we enjoyed, while others were misrepresented by the rental agency. Not this one.

Our little convoy turned off the main road and ascended a narrow road until we reached Summit View Lodge—a four-story cabin nestled on the side of a mountain. Everyone wanted to visit the top level to see the view. Surrounding us were mountain ranges folded upon mountain ranges. Sadly, trees, smog, and low-hanging clouds kept us from seeing clearly what we might have otherwise observed.

Elijah had a sight problem as well, but trees, pollution, and clouds had nothing to do with it. He had defeated hundreds of pagan prophets in a mountaintop contest, but the wicked queen wasn’t pleased with his efforts. A twenty-four-hour death sentence sent him running. His first stop was a broom tree where he asked God to take his life. Then he traveled to a cave where once again depression overshadowed him like a lurking animal. But amidst his despair, God helped him see clearly.

Fear, anxiety, and depression kept Elijah from seeing what God wanted to do in his life—just as clouds and smog kept us from seeing the totality of our mountain view. Adopting Elijah’s solution, running, is an easy escape point when things aren’t going our way or when we can’t see which way they are going at all.

Taking advantage of the abundant life Jesus offers requires a clear view—even when circumstances are against us. And this requires several steps, which Elijah eventually took.

First, we must believe God is with us and is concerned. Elijah’s running was unnecessary. God could handle a wicked queen. 

Second, we must ask God to help us understand the situation fogging our sight. God gave Elijah understanding in the cave. 

Third, we must accept our circumstances by faith. We won’t always understand what God is doing or why.

Finally, we must release despondency to God. Discouragement and depression will only further cloud our vision. Releasing it by faith clears things up.

Regardless of what clouds your view, God can help you see clearly.

Father, when the situations of life keep me from seeing clearly, help me to trust you to clear things up.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

When Losing Sight Helps Us See More Clearly - Martin Wiles

Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. Acts 9:8 NLT

I’m not blind, but I fear becoming that way one day.

At a young age, I was told my eyesight was poor. I needed glasses. Since then, my eyes have progressively gotten worse. Every four years, the optometrist would tell me I needed stronger lenses. Now, at sixty-five, I suffer from chronic dry eye disease, nearsightedness, and glaucoma risk. Additionally, I must wear bifocals. As a young child, I feared going blind. My fear is greater now than then. I muddle through most days with on-and-off blurred vision, not because I need stronger lenses—the ones I have are new—but because the glands that lubricate my eyes are damaged beyond repair.

Paul’s blindness had nothing to do with poor eyesight—unless this episode led to poor eyesight being his thorn in the flesh, as some have suggested. He was a staunch advocate of Judaism, hated this new sect called The Way, and spent his days hunting down Jesus followers. For him, they deserved persecution, jail, or death. Until God blinded him so he could see. He was like the other religious leaders Jesus rebuked. Jesus told them they needed to be blind (spiritually) so they could see. Unfortunately, most of them wouldn’t trade the legalistic sight they had for the spiritual blindness they needed.

I may have come into the world physically sighted, but I was spiritually blind. God things weren’t on my mind. Although at some point, I recognized there was something or someone greater than I was, I never bothered to search out this Being until he blinded me as he did Paul. Unlike Paul, I didn’t lose my physical sight, but I did have to become blind to my own ambitions and wants so I could see the proper way. Paul did too.

In Paul’s blindness, the risen Christ spoke to him. He believed, and his sight was restored—literally and spiritually. From that moment, he became the greatest proponent of what he once violently opposed.

Believing I was a sinner who needed to see clearly—and then turning to Jesus Christ, who paid for my sins—was how I received my sight. It’s the only way any of us can see.

Be willing to go blind so God can restore your sight.

Father, I praise you for providing for my salvation. Blind me to myself, so I can see your plan and purpose. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Trusting the Unseen - Martin Wiles

Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6:17 NLT

Financial crunches sometimes reveal the unseen.

Ours was a financial crunch like we hadn’t seen lately. The payment for our low-mileage used car drained from our bank account, so we had to decide. As much as we hated parting with it, we had to let our car go back. In its place, we purchased an older vehicle of the same model with more miles. The seller advertised it as having 100K and told us before we gave it a test drive that the odometer only worked periodically.

As we drove down the road, we discovered he was right—at least in one respect. The odometer wasn’t showing the mileage. But then, suddenly, the mileage appeared. Although the owner had been truthful about the odometer, he hadn’t been about the mileage. One hundred thousand was 205,000. Now we had another decision.

Three years later, we didn’t regret our decision to purchase it. We experienced no trouble, even though we rarely saw the odometer. Occasionally, it appeared--long enough for us to know it was working and to mentally note the mileage so we could tell the service attendant the next time we had the oil changed. We trusted the unseen.

A foreign king hounded the prophet Elisha, wanting to end his life. When Elisha’s servant saw the army surrounding him and his master, he cried out in fear: “What will we do now?” Elisha prayed that God would help him see the unseen—and God did. The hillside around them ignited with horses and chariots of fire. Elisha trusted the unseen.

The times I’ve seen God’s hand at work in vivid color are somewhat like the odometer on that car—rarely seen. But they come around regularly enough to let me know he’s continually working behind the scenes. My life is in his hands, and he is constantly working to form me into his Son’s image, to protect me from unforeseen danger, and to supply my every need—even if it’s an older model car with high mileage. Through explicit and unexplainable occurrences—as well as through the kindness of others--God leads us to trust his unseen hand.

We don’t always observe God’s hand, but he lovingly controls the world and faithfully works to provide for our needs. Trust him in the unseen.

Father, thank you for letting me know you work behind the scenes even when I can’t see your hand. 

I invite you to try my newest book, Grits, Grace, and Grands, in eBook or paperback. If you are an editor who wants to hone your grammar skills or someone who just wants to improve your writing or speaking, this is the book for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Seeing with God’s Eyes - Martin Wiles

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NLT

Vision problems have haunted me since I was a young lad.

At the tender age of ten, I received my first pair of glasses. Many changes in lens’ strength followed through the years—and many different styles of frames. Later in life, I added drops to stave off glaucoma and dry eye disease.

But my blurry vision didn’t prevent me from seeing some things I wish I hadn’t: pride, prejudice, greed, hate, abuse, crime, jealousy, selfishness, misplaced priorities. Nor did blurry vision keep me from viewing some things I was glad I had seen: love, kindness, sacrifice, selflessness, joy, peace, self-control.

Sometimes, I don’t see what I need to see, and God must correct my vision. Such as He did with Samuel. King Saul was done. God gave Samuel the prophet the responsibility to choose the next king from among Jesse’s sons. Quite naturally, Samuel thought he’d find the next king among the most handsome or athletically built of Jesse’s sons. God corrected him. David—the youngest, the one who tended the sheep—was God’s choice. Samuel took an outside-in approach in the selection process while God took an inside-out approach.

God hasn’t changed His method of looking at people—us included. When we acknowledge what Christ has done on Calvary’s cross—paid for our sins—receive the gift by faith, and follow Him in obedience, God forgives our sins and clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. We are saved by Christ’s righteousness, not our own.

When God looks at His children, He sees Christ’s righteousness. We are no longer dirty sinners, but saints. Our situation should not lead to pride, however, because our position has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Christ in us.

Knowing this helps us view others differently as well. Instead of seeing others as we often see them—with all their faults and failures—we can view them as God does us. Masterpieces in the making. People with unfulfilled potential. And when we see them this way, we love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

Ask God to help you see others—and yourself—as He sees them.

Prayer: Father, thank You for seeing us as we are in Christ, not as we would be without Him.

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Seeing with Different Eyes - Martin Wiles

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here.” Luke 7:44 NLT

I put them on, hoping I’d be able to see … but I couldn’t.

Glasses I was accustomed to. I’d had them since I turned ten. Through the years, my vision had deteriorated. As I neared forty, not only could I not see far away, which was my first vision issue, but I also now couldn’t see close up, which I’d always been able to do.

Walking in a retail store one day, I decided to try on the strongest pair of reading glasses they carried, thinking this might help. No luck. Things were still blurry. I knew my next step was bifocals. The doctor had already warned me. I was simply trying to avoid the inevitable.

I made an eye appointment and told the optometrist I was ready. After the technicians readied my glasses and I put them on, I was astounded at how clearly I could see. 

Simon the Pharisee had a vision problem also, but it had nothing to do with defective eyes. His related to attitudes, ingrained prejudices, and religious traditions. As Jesus dined with him for dinner, an immoral woman intruded, poured perfume and tears on Jesus’ feet, and then wiped Jesus feet dry with her hair. Simon saw her as a nothing more than a sinner who had no business being there and who Jesus had no business having contact with. Jesus, on the other hand, saw her potential.

Jesus saw with different eyes, and I will too when I learn to see as He does. Jesus didn’t allow prejudice, hateful attitudes, or religious traditions to keep Him from associating with those who needed Him to give them hope. Nor should I.

People who need hope—like this immoral woman and all of us at some point—fill the world. As believers, we have the message of hope they need. Letting sour attitudes—regardless of how we adopted them into our life—keep us from others extinguishes the hope we have to share.

Jesus wants His followers to see others as He does. Everyone can become His child if they choose. Once in the family, God becomes our Father who watches over us, meets our needs, and unites us together in a spirit of love and unity.

If your spiritual vision is blurry, ask God to clear it up.

Prayer: Father, help us to see others with the same eyes You see them.

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Seeing Jesus Clearly - Martin Wiles

So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” Genesis 41:38 NLT

I call them my “blurry-eyed days,” and nothing I do can change it.

Living with glaucoma and dry-eye disease is challenging. Four different types of drops applied multiple times daily keeps both diseases under control, but, short of surgery, no cure exists for either. Despite my meticulous applying of the drops, some days are blurry from the moment I open my eyes in the morning until the time I close them at night. According to the doctor, dry-eye disease is the culprit. Glands that lubricate my eyes are damaged—some completely destroyed.

So I’ve learned to live with my blurry-eyed days. Fortunately, they don’t come around that often. When they do, I sit closer to the computer, use my drops more often, realize I won't recognize faces until they get closer to me, and know I must hold material closer to read it. The next day will be better. Things will clear up.

Pharaoh didn’t have blurry vision. He could see clearly that the Spirit of the living God dwelled in this young man who’d been brought out of prison and interpreted his dreams—dreams no other wise man in Egypt could interpret. After Joseph told him what his dreams meant and what he should do because of their meaning, Pharaoh saw God clearly through Joseph.

While dry-eye disease keeps me from seeing things clearly on some days, I never want others not to see Jesus clearly in me. I want His light to shine brightly through me—as it did with Joseph. Pharaoh saw something different in Joseph.

Living as Jesus did lets others see Him clearly in us. Jesus performed acts of kindness everywhere He went. People needed physical, emotional, and mental healing, and He offered it freely. While I can’t heal, I can offer comfort to those who need it, and I can pray for them as they seek it through other sources. I can help them when they can’t help themselves. Kindness characterized Jesus’ every move, and it can mine as well.

Anger, unforgiveness, prejudice, and unconcern keeps people from seeing Jesus clearly in me. Sure, His presence might shine through such stuff occasionally—or in limited measure—but these attitudes dim His light in me, and they also keep me from seeing God-sent opportunities. God, however, heals such attitudes when asked.

Get rid of anything that keeps others from seeing Jesus clearly in you.

Tweetable: Are you seeing God's will clearly?

Prayer: Father, remove any attitudes or actions that prevent Your light in us from being seen clearly. 

  

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Seeing Clearly - Martin Wiles

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9 NLT

None of us had ever experienced what we were about to.

Eight couples from our church traveled to a cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for a marriage retreat. My wife and I had stayed in several cabins over the years—some we enjoyed while others were misrepresented by the rental agency. Not this one.

Our little convoy turned off the main road and ascended a narrow road until we reached Summit View Lodge—a four story cabin nestled on the side of a mountain. Everyone wanted to visit the top level to see the view. For 180 degrees, we saw nothing but mountain range folded upon mountain range. Our only obstructions were trees, smog, and low-hanging clouds.

Elijah had a sight problem as well, but trees, pollution, and clouds had nothing to do with it. He had defeated hundreds of pagan prophets on a mountaintop contest, but the wicked queen wasn’t pleased with his efforts. A 24-hour death sentence sent him running. His first stop was a broom tree where he asked God to take his life. Then he traveled to a cave where once again depression overcame him. In the midst of his despair, God helped him see clearly.

Fear, anxiety, and depression kept Elijah from seeing what God wanted to do in his life—just as clouds and smog kept us from seeing the totality of our mountain view. Adopting Elijah’s solution—running, is an easy escape point when things aren’t going our way or when I can’t see which way they are going at all.

Taking advantage of the abundant life Jesus offers requires a clear view—even when circumstances are against me. And this requires several steps which Elijah eventually took.

First, I must believe God is with me and is concerned. Elijah’s running was unnecessary. God could handle a wicked queen. Second, I must ask God to help me understand the situation fogging my sight. God gave understanding to Elijah in the cave. Third, I must accept my circumstances by faith. I won’t always understand what God is doing or why. Finally, I must release despondency to God. 

Discouragement and depression will only further cloud my vision. Releasing it by faith clears things up.

Regardless of what clouds your view, God can help you see clearly.

Prayer: Father, when the situations of life keep us from seeing clearly, help us to trust You to clear things up.

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Visually Impaired - Martin Wiles

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. Isaiah 53:3 NLT

Without them, my world is one big blob of indistinguishable faces and blurry images. 

While some wear glasses with plastic frames simply because they think glasses are stylish, such wasn’t the case when I first got glasses. Wearing glasses wasn’t popular. The derogatory term for those who did was “four eyes.” I endured the agony of being labeled. I was visually impaired and could do nothing about it but endure the agony of rejection and blurriness. 

Forty-five years later, things haven’t changed much. My blurry world remains the same if I remove my glasses. Recently, my cornea specialist diagnosed me as being in the early stages of glaucoma. Additionally, I was diagnosed with dry-eye disease. 

The Messiah’s rejection came because those living at the time were also visually impaired—just not physically. Theirs was a spiritual impairment because they missed such prophecies as this one and majored on ones dealing with His conquering nature. 

What caused them to be sighted but blind can bring about the same result in my life. Pride can lead to visual impairment. The ancient Jews were filled with it. Jesus illustrated their prideful nature by telling about a Pharisee and a tax collector who prayed in the Temple. The Pharisee thanked God he wasn’t like other people, especially the filthy tax collector standing in the corner. 

Pride leads to a downfall every time. It is one of those sins God particularly despises because of the bitter consequences it can bring. Pride makes me think I’m better than others for whatever reasons I can concoct. The sin of pride brought Adam and Eve’s downfall, and it will bring one to anyone who lets pride creep into their lives.

Prejudice will also impair my spiritual vision. Most of the ancient Jews thought they were better than their Gentile neighbors. After all, God had chosen the Jews as His special possession. Though God had a special plan for them, the plan included their bringing Gentiles into God’s fold. Unfortunately, they often ignored God’s plan because they thought they were better than the Gentiles. 

Selfishness impairs my spiritual vision as well. When life is all about me, I won’t see God’s plan—even when it’s staring me in the face. Selfishness causes me to miss God’s best while keeping the focus on me, myself, and I. 

Are you walking around sighted, but blind? 

Prayer: Father, give us courage to put away those things that would spiritually impair our vision.

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Throwback Tuesday - Martin Wiles

The Power Of Vision

He was only trying to help. Now it appeared it would cost him his eyesight.

Hawkeye Pierce was a top notch physician and lady’s man on the long running sitcom, M*A*S*H. Currently this entailed lighting a cantankerous gas stove in the nurses tent. BAAM was the next sound he and the entire camp heard-followed by complete darkness for him. The stove had exploded, burning his eyes in the process. After carefully wrapping his eyes, the optometrist said they’d just have to wait. But during this sightless journey, Hawkeye gained renewed appreciation for his vision. Read more...

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