So we don’t look at
the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be
seen… For we live by believing and not by seeing.
– (2 Corinthians 4.18a; 5.7, NLT)
In the blockbuster film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford plays Dr. “Indiana” Jones, a daring, adventurous
archeologist who travels the world in search of historic treasures. In the third
movie in the series, Indiana and his father (played by Sean Connery) are
searching for the Holy Grail, the cup reputed to have been used by Christ at
the Last Supper.
Indiana's father is shot just at the end of their quest. With his
father quickly dying, Indiana's search for the Grail takes on new intensity and
urgency, because legend has it that the cup is said to bring healing to those
who drink from it. With his father groaning in the background, Indiana walks
ahead, following an ancient book that gives clues to guide him through a maze
of death-defying obstacles to the place where the Grail is hidden. Through the
gauntlet Indy comes to the brink of a chasm deeper than the eye can see and there
is no visible way for him to cross the
chasm. Indiana is faced with the
impossible. All he sees is the sheer cliff’s edge and the vast gulf beneath
him. Then, as he studies his guidebook, his face relaxes in realization, and he
exclaims, "It's a leap of
faith."
With his father whispering, "You
must believe, boy, you must believe," Indiana looks straight ahead,
gathers his courage, and believing the book, slowly raises one foot into the
empty air in front of him. With a thud, his foot lands on solid ground. We next
see Indiana standing on a narrow rock bridge which appears in front of him and
is deceptively carved to match the exact outline of the ravine beneath it. Overcome
with relief, he quickly crosses the chasm, discovers and retrieves the Grail on
the other side, and is ultimately able to save his father from certain death with
a drink from the cup.
It
may be that right now you are facing what seems like real life impossibilities –
and it appears to you that there is no visible way to get through your
circumstances. Maybe today, as you read this Footnotes, you’re at your own cliff’s
edge and your problems seem so deep that you can’t see the bottom or so great there
is no way to cross the chasm directly in front of you. Perhaps you’re
surrounded by seemingly overwhelming odds… you may feel trapped, maybe even hopelessly
doomed. It could be that you’ve been
trying really hard, doing the best you can but now you’re running out of resources,
out of options, running out of ideas, and there is so much at stake but no
bridge appearing to get you over your troubled waters.
Today,
our heavenly Father is saying to you and me that there is a way over, a way
through to safety… to security, to fullness of life. And He’s speaking to each
one of us, “You must believe, boy, you
must believe.” That’s in essence what God tells us in our key Scripture
text, found in 2 Corinthians 4.18a and 5.7: “So
we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things
that cannot be seen… For we live by believing and not by seeing” – (NLT)
First,
God’s Word says here to stop focusing on “the
troubles we can see now.” Now our Lord isn’t saying to ignore your problems
or pretend they don’t exist or just wish them away. However, dwelling on your
troubles… obsessing and worrying about your problems is not the way to your
Holy Grail. God says, “Instead, fix your
gaze on the eternal… for we live by believing and not by seeing.” Because that’s
the way through – He’s the way through! Jesus declares that, “With man this is impossible, but not with
God; all things are possible with God… Everything
is possible for one who believes… For what is impossible with man
is possible with God... I can promise you
this: If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this
mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible
for you.”
– (Mark 10.27; 9.23; Luke 18.27; Matthew 17.20, NLT)
Second,
God promises hope when we apply this Scripture – “we live by believing… not by seeing.” Did you catch that? “We live by believing.” “We live!” God’s promise to you and me
is that there is life above and beyond our present circumstances, and that life
is experienced “by believing.” Now
what is it that we need to believe so that we are no longer “under the circumstances”? We simply
need to believe God and what He says in His book, the Bible. This is how we get
through our maze of obstacles… how we get over the great chasms we all will
face in this world. This is how fullness of life is really experienced and how
we can get through anything, no matter what, no matter how great the challenge
or difficulty may seem. You see, God has infinite resources – God Himself is
our infinite resource – and we tap into Him with all that He is and all that He
has for us by believing Him. And by believing the One Who created 125 billion
galaxies and counting, we begin seeing ourselves, our present circumstances,
our past, our future, from His eternal perspective: “There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are
here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” and
“He shows for all time the tremendous
generosity of the grace and kindness He has expressed towards us in Christ
Jesus” – (2 Corinthians 4.18, MSG; Ephesians 2.7, JBP; read also 2
Corinthians 4.7-11; 4.16-5.7)
Now
there’s one great chasm every one of us shares in common, and that’s the massive
gulf created between us and a holy God because of our sin — “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of [literally, lack] God’s glorious
standard” – (Romans
3.23, NLT) But God makes a way even over that insurmountable canyon – all
through believing His Son: “Yet God, with
undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ
Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God
presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when
they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood” – (Romans
3.24-25, NLT) Jesus said, “Do not let
your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe
in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God;
believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely
also on Me… I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father
except by (through) Me… ” (John 14.1, 6, AMP)
Jesus
is the Way through to the Father… He’s the Way through your circumstances… the only
Way through to the things that last forever – things that maybe you cannot see right
now with the natural eye. Again, there so much more than meets the eye, when we
believe God (cf. 2 Kings 6.8-22; Hebrews 12.18-24). “Heal my heart and make it clean… Open up my
eyes to the things unseen.”[*]
So
many of us go through our days, make our choices, plan our schedule, set our
agenda, plot our course, and we give it our very best – but there’s a problem.
If we are walking through our daily life based on what looks best or what feels
best, based on what we can see – we’re operating according to our own finite
human senses. We can’t see the long-range consequences of the choice(s) we’re making
today – right now. We don’t see things from an eternal view or perspective… we
don’t see from God’s vantage point. But the Spirit of God can — and does! God
sees the beginning from the end (Isaiah 46.9-10)
Often,
we can't see what choice is best for us and would fit best into God's plans for
us, but the Spirit does. We can't see where the resources will come from or the
people, but the Holy Spirit can and does. Frequently, in the midst of our
circumstances, we can’t see the right path forward, but the Holy Spirit knows. The
Holy Spirit of God has come to dwell inside your personality to train you and teach
you, guide you, direct you, lead you, prompt you, convict you, nudge, enable
and empower you on to the right place at the right time in today's schedule. Jesus
promised His followers, “And I will ask
the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper,
Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you
forever — The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to
its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him.
But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly]
and will be in you.” – (John 14.16-17, AMP) So our job is to learn to follow the Spirit’s
leadership and recognize His inner pushes and pulls, tugs and nudges, urgings
and promptings, and to respond to Him by believing and obeying Him.
A
friend of mine says, “Big God, little
problems – little God, big problems.” The more you know God for Who He
really is, the more you can believe and trust Him… and the greater your
confidence will be in Him… and the deeper and stronger your faith in Him will
grow. You will find yourself believing Him more and more, like the words from
an old hymn, “I know the Lord will find a
way for me!”
The
first disciples had Jesus there and He said, "Follow me." And it was easy, because He was right there
physically, and they could see Him. Well, you can do it today if you are a
Jesus-follower because you have His Spirit inside saying, "Come this way." If you’re a believer, don't just pray in
the morning and then go run off for the day with your pre-set course and then
check back at bedtime. You need the security, the adventure of following the
Spirit's leading all day long. After all, you can walk but you can't really see
without believing and trusting the Word of God and the Spirit of God to
shepherd you through anything and everything.
“Yes,
even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid
of anything, because You are with me. You have a walking stick with which to
guide and one with which to help. These comfort me” –
(Psalm 23.4, NLV)
“The fundamental fact of existence is that this
trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes
life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is
what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see
the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we
don’t see” – (Hebrews 11.1-3, MSG)
In
a nutshell – in Him,
Web Shepherd
