Seeing God

There is an old joke about a witness in a burglary case. The defense lawyer asked John, an elderly man: "Did you see my client commit this burglary?"

"Yes," answered John, "I plainly saw him take the goods."

The lawyer questioned John again: "John, this happened at night. Are you sure you saw my client commit this crime?"

"Yes" said John, "I saw him do it."

Then the lawyer confronted the old man: "John listen, you are 80 years old and your eyesight probably isn't too great. Just how far can you see at night?"

John replied, "I can see the moon... how far is that?"

I spent two summers in Long Beach, California, working with a church there. One thing that comes to mind when you think about that area is the traffic. Trying to navigate my way along the crowded streets was quite intimidating to this West Texas boy. Since I was spending much of my time looking for places that I had never been to, I had to concentrate on street signs and house numbers as well as deal with the traffic.

Toward the end of that first summer, I realized that if I would just raise my eyes a bit, there was a beautiful view of the mountains near Los Angeles. The view had been there the whole time; I just hadn't raised my eyes to see it.

The apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in Rome: "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:20). An ancient Hebrew poet wrote in the book of Psalms: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Psalms 19:1).

If you're not seeing God's hand in the world around you, maybe you just need to raise your eyes a bit. The evidence is there for all to see.

If I can help you see what God is doing, please let me know. Write to me with a question or comment at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org. Or visit our www.hopeforlife.org website.