Saturday, August 28, 2010

I Will See

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13).

I think I've always read this verse as, "I am not experiencing God's goodness right now, but I am confident that before I die, He will eventually be good to me again." In other words, it's His goodness that is temporarily missing--His blessing or favor, perhaps--and the psalmist expresses faith that it will return. Seems like an admirable expression of faith...

This morning it occurs to me that what's missing isn't God's goodness, but my sight. He has not (nor will He ever) temporarily ceased showing goodness, to resume at some point in the future, hopefully before I die. Rather, my eyes have been blinded--by sin and my idols, by satan, by circumstances--and I have been rendered temporarily unable to see clearly.

In other words, to paraphrase the verse differently, "I am not sensing God's goodness right now, but I am confident that before I die, He will open my blind eyes and enable me to see the goodness which has been at work all along."

Lord, make it so. Give me eyes of faith to behold Your goodness and glory, no matter what I am facing. Give me a heart to trust that it is my vision, not Your goodness, that has failed. Help me believe with the psalmist's confident assurance that You will restore my sight, because I am in Christ, and He came to do exactly that: to recover sight for the blind.

1 comment:

zz said...

Or how about, "even if no one else sees God's goodness in this situation, I will see." I heard that when God sees, he acts, as in Jehovah-jireh "God sees and provides." Help me, Lord, to see Your goodness and express something about it (give thanks, for starters).

Good food for thought, Amy.