Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV)
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Jude 1:10 (NKJV)
“But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.”
The eye governs. The mouth without knowledge and discernment will destroy itself. Jamaicans would say “A dat wid you, yuh love chat weh yuh doh know”, translation: “That’s your problem, you talk about things you’re ignorant of.”
Now, this is one of those aspects of this whole discussion of godly perspective that just seems extraordinarily simple and straight forward but is also incredibly deep and ESSENTIAL.
The sighted and the blind move different. If you recall elsewhere in the Bible, it’s the lack of VISION that causes the people to perish (Proverbs 29:18). Yes man, it’s that deep. I’m not sure what else I could say to communicate to you how much we need to have, know and understand God’s vision and perspective to live the lives He's called us to live. In God’s Eye View part 1 we talked about the fact that gaining and adopting God’s perspective is a command, we discussed examples of it in scripture and discussed how much we all need that perspective in our lives as believers. In God’s Eye View part 2 we took a look at ourselves and we were frank with God. We prayed earnestly to the one true God for a shift from our natural perspectives to His divine one.
Today, in God’s Eye View part 3 we observe both the sighted and the blind. The ones who receive the vision from the Holy Spirit (the sighted) and the ones who walk without it (the blind). Why should we do this? Because there’s really something to it. As you no doubt observe in the two scriptures highlighted in the beginning, something happens when the ones with the vision STEP. ATTENTION. QUICK MARCH. Military commands that the sons of Issachar must respond to. For context, 1 Chronicles 12:32 counts these men amongst those who ally with David as he prepares to take the throne from Saul. They are referred to as wise men who understood the times and knew what to do. The tide had turned, the commands and calls were sounding and these guys were counted amongst the number who knew what was up.
How did they know? I’d say they knew because they were among the sighted. Their eyes were full of light, their mouths full of knowledge. They were assets to the move of God and they knew exactly where they needed to be and what they needed to be doing. Not just for they themselves, but for Israel. If you read the whole chapter it “chronicles” many of the warriors who, also being sighted, joined with David and were amongst the ranks of those who would usher in the new regime God had ordained. You can also tell that many were blind. They weren’t getting with what God was doing in the time and so they simply missed Him in the hour.
To think about it another way, the ones with vision, the ones who can see, they are unlikely to be confused. They can step confidently and do what need be done in time. The blind however, stumble over literally everything in their path. Unguided, unaware and ignorant everything is a stumbling block for the blind. What a different reality the two sets of people operate in. Honestly, this is one of those articles that wrecks and ruins me even as I sit to write it, but in true God fashion, those are also the ones God seems to speak the loudest through. So, I His ever-available vessel sit and pen these words from his heart to my pen and straight through yours as a sword.
If you’re like me you need a little more perspective right now. Take a look again at the two previous instalments of this series and understand that you too were born for such a time as this and you cannot afford to be stumbling blind or drunk in this season. Until next time think on this, first comes godly perspective, next comes what?