Occasionally, Connie would ask me to go to the storeroom to get a sauce or the like. Sometimes when I got there, I couldn’t find what she had requested. When I told her that, she would say, “I know it is down there,” so off we would go to look together. Sure enough, it was there. I had been looking straight at it but couldn’t see it. This is often like our relationship with God.
The early Hebrews saw God’s stunning miracles. Yet soon they returned to worshiping the local cultural gods. To this day, practicing Jews will do their ritual of worship of God, yet not see Him in the life of His Son, Jesus. But are we that much different? We can go to church, read our Bibles, serve others, and the like, yet rarely, if ever, encounter God in doing so.
We commonly think that if so and so could see a miracle, they would believe and trust in Jesus, but that is not so. Jesus’ brothers and sisters, who ate meals with Jesus, saw, touched and conversed with Him, yet only Mary, their mother, saw who Jesus really was. It is thought that many of his family members did not believe in him until after He died and rose again. John the Baptist, declared Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Yet, he became confused about who Jesus was and sent his disciples to inquire of Jesus if He was really the Son of God. The scribes and Pharisees heard Jesus teach and witnessed the miracles God did through Him yet could not see Him for who He really was.
Our preconceived ideas blind us to what is true. We often view spontaneous thoughts as harmless clouds drifting by. We ignore Paul’s warning, “…we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (NLT2) These evil spirits confuse us too often. Peter couldn’t distinguish the difference between the Holy Spirit’s and Satan’s ideas that popped into his mind. When something puts our mind in a spin, we aren’t able to see Satan or Jesus when looking at them.
I’ve been intrigued with how those physically close to Jesus didn’t realize who He was. It was like me looking in the storeroom and not seeing what was in front of me. The Jewish leaders, people in his hometown (Nazareth), the community of Gadarenes, and scores more. Mary at the tomb and the men walking and talking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Him.
We would like to imagine that if we saw what they saw, we would go all in for certain. However, we don’t realize the influence twisted ideas can have on our minds. Consider Judas Iscariot. Jesus empowered him to do mighty miracles with the other disciples and the seventy whom Jesus sent out to do the miraculous. He had to be blind not to see Jesus for who He was.
This makes me question how often I might miss God at work around me. Why is it that we find it difficult to credit God for small things that happen to us? I, too can be as obsessed with the physical. How about you? I can only say I am still on the learning curve of seeing God instead of myself in what happens around me. But the more I watch for Him working daily in my life, the greater healing and joy I experience. I’m sure that is how it would be with you as well. He is working when we don’t see or feel Him working. But when I look more for Him, I can see Him.
We need to continually ask Jesus to focus our mind on His desires for us! Then be willing to follow through!