THE LIMITED VIEW

If you want to know what's going on around you, then don't look around you.

Wait....What?

On my way to work I always come to this "VEHICLE APPROACHING WHEN FLASHING" sign. It's at a bend in the road with very limited visibility, so rather than looking left and right before turning onto Burnt Hickory, I have to stare straight ahead at the light to know whether it's safe to turn right or left. If the light is flashing, then a car is coming (whether I can see it from my vantage point or not, it's coming). If not, it's clear--and safe for me to proceed.

Seems counter-intuitive to look straight ahead rather than right or left, but it's the safest way.

Because there are cars coming around the bend just beyond where I can see them, and if I pull out simply because I can't see any cars coming, I could get hit. So I cannot trust in what I see when I look side to side--my view is just too limited. I have to stare straight toward the light and take my cues from it.

There are things that you and I can't see in the limited view of our humanness. We can't see that that "harmless" flirtation could eventually cause one heck of a train wreck, and that's why our God urges us to run like heck (my paraphrase) from sexual immorality--and even from the steps that could potentially lead toward it. Harmless? Hardly. It's not a game, it's not a fun diversion. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen. And maybe we can't see that one swipe after another of our credit cards is going to land us in a financial collision eventually, but that's why there are constant urges--just in Proverbs alone--not to proceed into obligations of debt.

When we look around at our circumstances, they may appear safe. But that's exactly WHY WE CAN'T look to our circumstances--we just can't see what could be coming around the way that is currently beyond our view. We need to fasten our gaze straight ahead on Jesus and on His perfect Word, because it brings to light what is hidden and speaks to what we cannot see.

And on the flip side, there are times when victory, redemption, and enormous joy are just outside our limited view. We can't see any fruit from our faith, but it doesn't mean it's not on its way. There may be something absolutely glory-drenched right around the bend that is about to collide with our lives in the most beautiful way.

Maybe it's the family who has prayed for years to be matched with a child finally being told there's one waiting. Maybe it's the brother coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ when you weren't sure it was ever going to happen. Maybe it's the job for which you've been praying that lands in your lap just as you were about to give up hope. Proverbs 2:7 says that He holds victory in store for the upright, and the Hebrew word for "in store" suggest that the victory is hidden--unseen. But that victory is very much in store for us, nonetheless.

Want to understand what's going on around you? Don't look around you! Stare toward the One who brings understanding to our oh-so-limited view.

Let us fix our eyes on JESUS,
the author and finisher of our faith.
Hebrews 12:2

No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9