That The Eyes of Our Understanding May Be Enlightened

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1st Timothy 3:16)The way many Christians think is when a demand is made in their life, when the support structure is removed from their lives, they take is as God’s unfaithfulness. Taking off the structure actually frees you. When it is removed then things actually start happen. There can be no vacuum in your life; if you lose your support structure, it is going to be replaced by something else. As the scripture says ‘which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1st Corint 2:8); you cannot die in the process. God wants to bring out something in you. That is why Jesus said ‘blessed are those that hunger…’ As we all know one of the laws in science states ‘an object continues in the state or position of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled’. To us this would mean you have the ability to grow faster but you must be compelled. On the external when there is pressure and when things are stirred up a lot of people get disillusioned at that point and wonder what happened to their prayers and everything they have done, but there is a manner in which God wants to show himself as your father with nothing else in between but you and Him.Let me explain where the problem lies – when the nation of Israel came out of Egypt and were going to the promised land, if they had been taken directly from Egypt to the promised land without the wilderness experience, when they got to the promised land, they would have been worshipping trees and the land and would have built an altar for their graven images. So God said ‘I have to show you something. I have to bring you out of Egypt, out of your system or dependency that was predictable.’ That is why sometimes you might have a client or you are in business with someone that is predictable and then God taps the business and says ‘your eyes must be on me’. So He changes the managing director of your client and brings “a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph”.

Remember that Jesus had to open the eyes of the two men walking with Him before they saw it was Him and then they said “…didn’t our heart burn within us when he opened the scriptures….’ (Luke 24: 32) There is a difference between the scriptures been opened and your eyes been opened.

This means the scriptures can be opened but your eyes are still closed. What happens is you see the scriptures and the promises butwhen you look into your life you to wonder where God is, because you cannot see His hand in your life.Herein lies the true quest of humanity. The scripture says ‘if you eat of this fruit, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God.

It also says ‘the things that make for peace are hidden from your eyes…’. In the Egypt of your life everything was stereotyped and you were programmed, you are in a place where you are being paid a monthly salary every month end, suddenly you are brought into the wilderness where you are hungry and there is no water; You get into life and your predictable patterns have been disrupted and there is nothing in sight. It was in this type of scenario that Moses looked up, this is where you understand that “I will lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help….” (Psalm 121:1) Moses lifted up his eyes, God said to him “you see that solid rock, there is water in it….”. But instead you say “no, where we are coming from, we sit on rocks when you are tired’.

But God insisted to Israel that there is water in the rock. Which means God was trying to show them that life can be totally different from the way we see it. The fact that you see things in a certain perspective does not mean that is the only way to life and it is essential to know that all things are possible with God.All God is concerned about is that the eyes of our understanding be open, so we can discern varying circumstances and know ultimately that there is a solution to every problem no matter how bleak it looks especially as the solution is right within our scope. In life when you get to a point and start asking God questions as to why certain things happen, the scripture says ‘There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it’. (1st Corint 10: 13). The only reason that person is in that situation is that they cannot find the way of escape and with every tight fix there is a way of escape, the question is can you see it? Narrow is the way that leads to life but few find it. There are several ways of doing things, just open your eyes.
Poju Oyemade