I am what YOU see

I remembered this morning, the black and white Television box we used to own many years ago. With it, we would watch programs and video cassettes excitedly; there was no need complaining of the pictures of the TV because that was all we had and there were not too many colour-TVs around with which we could make comparisons.

Fast forward to today; In retrospect, I realise how we had been short-changed and deprived of seeing the same things from better perspectives, especially with the advent of hi-tech Televisions in different sizes, amazing resolutions, integrated Internet capabilities with features that offer more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary basic television set….Needless to mention the invention of the 3D Television.….. Phew!

The technology then wasn't just capable of giving us what we have now. We couldn't see any better because of technological limitations. However that didn't remove the fact that we could see things in a brighter way if only we had a better TV that had colour which would make the pictures sharper and the overall content more appealing.

Let me drive the point home….When we look at circumstances around us from our own perspectives, all we can get from them are  the white and black images like what the old TV would offer: Difficulties in opportunities, pain in what should be gainful, stories in what should give glory , shame from what should give us fame and whatnot. However, when we choose to look at them from God’s perspectives, through the eye of His word, we get the real colour, the best images and the sharpest resolution of whatever life brings our way.

God has existed from ancients untraceable and like I noted in my last post, His rule transcends generations from ages past to interminable eternity. He can never be technologically bound or limited. He has been hi-tech even before the alphabets existed. He sees 1 million years ahead and that’s why He could tell Abraham he would become a father of nations 25 years before he had a child. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would bare our pain, sorrows, grief and sicknesses almost 700 years even before Jesus came. Why? God already had seen it happen; the Lamb had been slain from the foundations of the world (rev 13:8).

Let me share one interesting story from the Bible with you. Jacob had worked for Laban his uncle for many years by tendering his sheep and it was time for him to exit. So he entered into an agreement with Laban that all the speckled animals in the flock of sheep and goats would be his whilst his uncle Laban would have all the spotless ones (they were obviously more). He however did something that produced some mind boggling results.

 Let’s read Genesis in chapter 30:  37Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them. 38Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated. 39And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

Look at that! A natural act had the capacity to influence something supernatural. The animals whilst reproducing, because they were “seeing” the sticks placed in front of them, reproduced what they were seeing. (Read the entire chapter to get a better understanding of this story).Whoever gave Jacob that inspiration did Him an eternal good. Who else can do such, if not the Almighty God Himself! Laban intended to cheat Jacob but this formula Jacob adopted outwitted Laban’s intentions!

God doesn't joke with issues of what He sees and He doesn’t expect us to joke with ours. We are capable of becoming what we see.  It is interesting that when He wanted to pass a message to Jeremiah, He asked him: “What do you see” (Jeremiah 1:11- Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see? “And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”12.Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word)

If Jeremiah had not seen well, He wouldn't have gone any further. God told him he had seen well and that He was ready to perform His word.  ….”. Until our vision changes, we most likely are not ready to see the word of God performed in our lives. In Genesis chapter 1, God Himself “saw” that was He created was good and He was happy with it. Don’t forget that He chose to speak Light over the despicable state of the earth. He wasn't perturbed by the formlessness and void situation. He spoke and they came to be; how he wanted them. He called those things that be not as though they were…..

Be like your Father- See what He sees.

I love the lyrics of this beautiful song by Paul Mortion and I leave us with it…

Help me to see me

the way You see me

sometimes I see pain Lord

when You see victory

I see where I am Lord

You see where I shall be

open my eyes, help me believe

I am what You see

(Repeat)

You see me victorious

You see me faithful

You see me believing

that You are able

You see me rejoicing

cause I have survived

open my eyes, help me believe

I am what You see

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh (repeat)

I am healed, I am free

I am what You see (x2)

(Repeat x4)

Open my eyes, help me to see,

I am what You see