Hebrews 12:2 “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Several years ago, my husband decided to get a boat, a 23-foot fishing boat. We would load up our bait tank with bait and go out into the ocean so we could catch fish. The problem is, I get motion sickness, really bad motion sickness, and one time we wanted to take the boat out to go down to the best fishing spot in Mexican waters about two hours away, so we left at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. Usually when I went out on the boat, I could fix my eyes on the horizon and as long as I didn’t look at my phone or try to bait a hook, I would be fine. But on this particular morning, there was nothing for me to fix my eyes on; it was absolutely pitch dark; there was a fog over the ocean and there was no moon that I could see, and as the boat navigated the waves for two hours, we were pitched to and fro, and I found myself getting deathly ill. By the time the sun came up and I could finally see the horizon, I was so sick to my stomach that all I could do was curl up in a ball, after losing my breakfast and ride it out until we got back to shore. It was awful.
Matthew 10:27 says, “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” Sometimes God allows us to go through dark periods in our life, times when it is so pitch black we cannot see, there is nothing to fix our eyes upon, and so, what do we do? If you are like me, I look at my circumstances and my situation and I become overwhelmed, filled with anxiety and fear, pitched to and fro in the blackness, and it seems there is nothing for me to hold on to, and often times all I want to do is curl up in a ball, and just die. I believe that in the darkness, that is when the Lord speaks to us most clearly, but often times we look to the world, we look to the horizon, we talk to other people, we seek counsel from the wrong person, and we miss what God wants to say to us.
Psalm 121:1-2 says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” The Lord wants me to come to Him in the midst of my storm, in the darkness, and during those dark valleys. If I look to the mountains and the horizon, I will not see what God wants me to see, but if I stay still in the darkness and listen for His small still voice, He will speak to me, He will guide me, He will rescue me, He will be my salvation and my strength. He will be the perfecter of my faith and in time, it is He who will heal me and complete me.
Psalm 17:15 says, “As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” So the question remains, who am I looking to, to satisfy my soul. Who am I fixing my eyes on in the midst of the ocean that is tossing me around like a tiny vessel among the waves? The grace of God is overlooked by those who are satisfied with this temporal world and all the fleeting things it brings, but when we fix our gaze upon our Savior, and continue to seek His face, we will never be satisfied until we look in the mirror and see His likeness in us.
-- Melody
