Eye Glasses....Are Yours Clean or Dirty?

I can't stand dirty eye glasses, windshields or anything else that inhibits my view!  Looking through dirty glasses gives me a headache so I am always checking them to make sure they are spotless.   I have friends that don't seem to care at all that their windshields are filthy and they have spots on their glasses....this amazes me!   


I hope I have given you a good visual for what I am about to be sharing.  I am reading a book right now that was giving to me as a gift from my sister Donna...it's by Ann Voskamp and I read a little and then have to put it done and ponder on what I have read.   Ann has a tremendous gift of writing in such a way that captures my mind, heart and soul.  She has brought wonderful spiritual truths through scripture and her understanding of what joy looks like in the midst of cloudy moments, seasons or just plain dark and painful times.  Thank you Donna for the book and thank you Ann for sharing your insights with us all.


Ok....now back to the dirty eyeglasses.   After reading a portion of her book where Ann writes about our perspective going bad....as in "bad eyes", I immediately started visioning dirty spiritual eyeglasses.  I'm a very visual person and so my minds "eye" went crazy from there!   I started thinking about the difference between clear spiritual thinking (clean spiritual glasses) as opposed to cloudy spiritual thinking (cloudy/dirty spiritual glasses).  Are you getting the picture yet??  


When there is so much darkness, pain and suffering around me...whether it is my own or others...how clear is my thinking?   Where do I allow the enemy to take me in the midst of it all?   Do I become overwhelmed with the littlest of cloudiness or fearful of what it might become?  These questions and many more have invaded my mind and have started me on the path of seeking God's truth in the midst of darkness...or a hint of cloudiness.   I don't have all the answers, but I want to make sure I'm at least asking the right questions as to reveal God's truth and character.


Ann Voskamp writes..."Without God's Word as a lens, the world warps."  (Selections From One Thousand Gifts  pg 71)


So, if my spiritual eyesight is cloudy going into the realm of darkness....then won't everything seem warped and out of focus?   And isn't that exactly where the enemy wants us to be....off balance and out of focus?   Isn't God's Word clear and focused?   If the answer is yes to these questions than God's Word is where we must start....it's the first tool we use to clean our glasses!!  


These things I know to be true.....

God is good and loves us beyond all understanding.  

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His loving kindness is everlasting (Psalms 107:1).

Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow (James 1:17). 

If God is good in all things and his goodness is everlasting....then.... in the darkness of this world God's goodness is the same.   This truth makes me look at these things differently based on who God is and not on the circumstance.   This truth does not lessen the pain or suffering we go through but it does shift our eyesight up and beyond the dark clouds where the light still shines.

God's sees the whole picture and has a plan for all that I go through.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)


Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

How can I possible make sense of the dark clouds if I can't see beyond that moment?   This is where I must rely on God who can not only see beyond the darkness but also has a plan for and beyond this darkness.  I have to trust in Him...not in my own understanding.  My own understanding is warped and damaged....God's is clear and true, trustworthy and full of love.  

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

There's another tool that we have....and this our faith!!

None of these truths will help if we haven't also cleaned our spiritual glasses with faith!  Faith in our relationship through Jesus Christ and faith in God is who he says he is!


I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrew 11:1)


Wow...."what we do not see"!!   What is to come....who holds us in His hand...who is present in all things and areas, even in the midst of darkness, pain and suffering....who is the Great I Am....these are the things we find hard to "see" when our glasses are dirty!


Are you seeing a little bit clearer now?   When facing your own darkness or cloudy skies and you are feeling overwhelmed....remember to clean your spiritual eye glasses to let the "light" shine through!!