This article first appeared on The Christian Broadcasting Network
One of my favorite definitions of vision is “something seen otherwise than by the ordinary sight.” In other words, what you see in the natural should never limit what you can see by faith or by revelation.
Too often, we are moved by what we see naturally— and this isn’t a safe bet because feelings are involved. For example, when I was younger I had very poor self-esteem and had a hard time liking what I saw in my own mirror. My vision was limited to how I saw myself— based entirely upon emotion. Until one day, God helped me see what He saw— with eyes of faith.
It was a life-changing moment.
And I wonder if David had such a moment with God too? In Psalm 17:15, he said, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Certainly, this is a reference to eternal life. But I believe it also speaks of revelation, meaning an awareness of truth— an ah-ha moment (like the day God opened my eyes in front of my mirror to see more than I was actually seeing naturally).
Paul said, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The Message Translation says, “…our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.”
I can raise my hand and testify this is what happened to me.
When I was looking at things naturally, I only saw shortcomings and failures. But when my vision lit up with the knowledge (and revelation) of righteousness and who we are in Christ, I saw everything differently. For the first time I was able to actually envision a bright and beautiful life— even if I wasn’t there yet.
I could see God’s goodness to me through Jesus.
I understood, like David, what a satisfaction it is to become aware of our righteousness in Christ— to know and understand that we are fully loved and accepted by God. When the light of God’s Word shone in my dark, ignorant heart, I was fully awakened to so much more than I had ever known (or believed) previously.
In the beginning, when God said, “Let there be light…” there was a light that divided the darkness (Genesis 1:3-4). And this is what God is still doing today. Through His Word, and by His Spirit, God is shining a great light upon darkened hearts and awakening people everywhere to His goodness, love, righteousness, joy, peace, and so much more.
“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.”
