Spiritual Myopia

I like glasses; all types of glasses. Why? I don’t know, but I always have; regular glasses as well as sunglasses, reading, and novelty. Although I don’t really need to wear them, I am starting to sometimes find it difficult to focus on fine details or things that are really close up without them.

I probably like glasses because I was the only one of my brothers who didn’t need to wear them. In fact, I was happy when, at age forty, I was told that I should probably consider occasionally using a pair of reading glasses to help take the strain off of my eyes due to computer work and reading. So, I got a pair and was a happy camper.

I have very good eyes. Every year, at my annual checkup, my optometrist tells me that his eyes have never been as great as mine (even as mine are now getting older). My reading glasses are really just a convenient tool to help take the stain off of these half-century plus eyes. I only wear them a couple of times a day when I read.

To you who have myopia and have to wear glasses, you are probably thinking, “You like to wear glasses? Let’s trade places for a whole day to see what it is like to HAVE to wear them ALL of the time just to even be able to see the simplest things; let alone to be able to read. Try living with myopia ALL day and see how much you like wearing glasses”.

Hey, did my wife Cathy just say; “Amen”?

Myopia is an improper focus or an inability to see distant objects clearly. It is also called; “nearsightedness”. It's easily detected and corrected with the use of glasses, contacts, or laser surgery. It's inconvenient to have to put on glasses or put in contacts to make images clearer, but not debilitating.

In our lives it is possible to have a more serious problem than an inability to see physically. Myopia can also mean “a lack of foresight or discernment; obtuseness”.

I call this condition; “spiritual myopia” The symptoms are: clear focus when it comes to identifying problems, obstacles or difficulties in everyday life; but great difficulty in focusing on the power and protection which God has provided to meet the problem head on. In other words, the focus is always on the problems, not on God who will provide the solution.

No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we need to know that God is in control. He knows the deepest plans of the enemy and ways of undermining those plans. We need our focus adjusted so that we can see God’s solution instead of the just the problem.

In the natural, when we use glasses, our eyeball adjusts to the glasses; not the other way around. When we use contacts, our eyeball is conformed to the shape of the lenses; the lenses do not conform to the shape of the eye. And, they only work if we use them.

In the spiritual, our “glasses” are the Word of God (the Bible); and it only works if we use it for every situation that were facing. God’s plans and solutions are always greater than anyone could have ever imagined. We need to adjust to what the Bible says, not the other way around. The Bible doesn’t conform to our problems; our thoughts need to be conformed to what the Bible says.

Romans 12: 2 paraphrased says that we should not be conformed to this world (the problem), but be transformed by the renewing of our mind (by the Word of God), that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I want to encourage you to find a Bible and read the story in the book of 2 Kings Chapter 6, verses 8-23. It is a great story of the Prophet Elisha and his servant who one day found themselves in a bit of trouble. The two of them were surrounded by a great army from Syria that was coming to get them and they (seemingly) had nowhere to go. Elisha’s servant focused on the problem, and he asked “What shall we do?”

Elisha, instead, had his “spiritual glasses" on and was focused on God as the One who would get them out of this mess. Elisha was able to see the solution that God had for the two of them. In verse 17 of 2 Kings 6, Elisha prayed for his servant’s spiritual myopia:

“17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17 NKJV)

Truth was, God’s army had been surrounding them all of the time; that is what Elisha saw and why Elisha seemingly wasn’t too concerned. In other words, when God re-adjusted this servant’s focus; the servant of Elisha was able to understand that there were more of God’s army than the army that was surrounding the two of them. Elisha was able to calm his servant and help him understand how much more powerful God was.

So where are the areas that your focus has been off? Are you trying to squint or pretend that you are able to see? My encouragement for you is to stop and allow God to refocus your eyes through His Word and through the Holy Spirit. Be like Elisha’s servant and say; “Alas my master! What shall we do?” And stand fast as He will come through and show you what to do.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV)