Myopia Vs. Clear-Sightedness

This morning, I woke up, troubled. Sometimes that happens, other times, I have a hard time wiping sleep from my eyes and dragging myself out of bed. But there was a sense of urgency that pushed me from my cozy flannel sheets this morning, and I came out to the living room and began to pray.

I did not watch the vice-presidential debate last night, but I did read the reactions on my newsfeed. It made me sad to see so much hatred across the board for both politicians. To realize that many of us no longer remember what it means to show respect for our fellow humans. 

Backing myself away and looking at the situation as objectively as I can, the Lord reminded me: "That's not where the focus is, Tamara." Jeremiah 17:9 says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" 

I think if I follow this sick and wilted flower all the way down to the root, I will find there the sin that presents itself in corruption, backbiting, slander, hypocrisy, and hatred. I don't exempt myself from it. As my wise mother has said in the past: "But for the grace of God, there go I." 

Grace. Pure, sweet, marvelous grace that not only buries my sin from the sight of God, but transcends it so that I am made clean from the inside out, and can stand in the presence of God without fault.

How easy it is to flounder; though, to sink into the deep waters of short-sightedness, spiritual myopia. "That's not where the focus is, Tamara." 

As I was praying, I saw myself coated in my spiritual armor, decked out and fighting on the field of battle. It was loud and chaotic. I called for help, and in response, a cloak was given to me. I put it on, but as soon as I did, I staggered under the weight, and fell to my knees, realizing the cloak was made of heavy iron, and I had no strength to stand up under it.

Psalm 69:1-3 says: "Save me, oh God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God."

God gave a swift answer, one page back in my Bible. Psalm 68:17: "The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands and thousands!"

I don't know about you, but this makes me want to just shout from the top of the highest mountain: "How great are You, God!!" Elisha prayed in 2 Kings 6:17-20 for his servant's eyes to be opened, and "he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha!" He had myopia... until the Lord opened his eyes.

Back to Psalm 68:19-20: "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens (including cloaks made of iron). Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death."

I prayed for our nation and the nations of the world; I prayed specifically for those currently in office, making decisions in real-time, feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders. I prayed against corruption in office; I prayed that there would be a recognition of the Lord within the political system. Just as Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king of Babylon, recognized the Lord as the God of heaven, so, too, can our politicians acknowledge God as God.

I prayed for the positions that will be filled in November. As I did, I saw the silhouetted forms of people moving into those positions, but I couldn't see who they were. I was trying to guess by shape (since I know who the candidates are), but the Lord once again said: "That's not where the focus is, Tamara." 

And I looked up, and above the offices and the silhouettes moving into them were the "tens of thousands and thousands and thousands" from Psalm 68, and I remembered, my calling is not to necessarily pray one person or another into a certain office; rather, my calling is to pray for the battle to be won so that God's purposes and plans can be fulfilled.

So I will. And do. Every day. God is not distant; He hasn't set the world in space and then ridden off on a golden chariot, yelling back over His shoulder that someday He'll return. He is intricately focused on His purposes. This morning, the Lord reminded me of how He had Noah build the ark. I reread the story, saw afresh the horror of the first part...

But the beauty of the redemption, the new life that sprang from the destruction of the old. The Lord will do His work; we need only to "be still."