Here's looking at you...

Does your vision ever get blurry?  I mean, do you ever look so hard at something that your vision actually starts to cloud over and become distorted?  Keep it up and soon both your eyes are focused on the tip of your nose.  Makes us look kind of silly, doesn’t it?  Sometimes that happens when we read a lot, or when we do close work, or when we’re tired.  There are other times we get cross-eyed, too.  Like when our focus is on our problems, and our challenges, and the obstacles we face in life.

The world is a visually noisy place.  Drive down any city street and your eyes are assaulted by streetlights, and stoplights, and taillights, and billboards, and store signs, and street signs, and buildings, and trees, and people, and junk of every shape, size and description.  How is it that we ever manage to keep our cars between the yellow lines with all those distractions?  We filter out the noise and focus on our destination – our purpose.

Jehoshaphat knew all about that.  His story is in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 20).  He was a king and leader of the nation of Israel.  He faced certain annihilation by the enemies of God coming to make war with him.  Though shaken to the core over his situation, he resolved to cry out to God, and he said, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you”.

His world was visually noisy, too: Bad reports of a vast army coming against him and his people; visions of flaming arrows, gleaming steel swords, bronze shields and chariots of iron; fierce combatants, looming failure, bloody battlefields, and the hopes of a nation crushed.  But he found a way to filter out the noise.  It was no more complicated than the way we filter out the eye-noise we encounter when we’re driving down busy city streets.  Jehoshaphat decided where to focus his vision.  And when he did, he saw clearly.  And what he saw was God moving on his behalf, and guiding him to his destination – his purpose.

God has a destination for every one of us. Sometimes in the journey to that destination we encounter problems, challenges and obstacles.  But our destination is not TO life’s difficulties; it is THROUGH life’s difficulties.  And if we’re going to avoid crashing on the way, we’ve got to filter out the noise and focus on our purpose.  The next time life’s events cause you to go cross-eyed, think about where your eyes are focused.  Maybe it’s time to cry out to God, like Jehoshaphat and say, “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you, Lord”.  

Give it a shot.  You’ll be amazed how much better things look.