So we don’t look at troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we can see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. II Corinthians 4:18 NLT
Many times when things that happen in the natural: miracles, great moves of God, signs and wonders etc. they usually follow…or are confirmations of an even greater promise of God.
We know that Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith in God. Not because of anything he did, but because of his faith in God. The great promise from God to Abraham – that he would be the father of many nations, was a spiritual promise that was confirmed in a physical way with Isaac. (Gen 17:21) (Just as the covenant with Noah was confirmed in the rainbow) And while we can definitely “see” the awe of God’s glory and power in how He performed the physical miracle in Abraham’s life, (having a child at 100 years of age can only be a supernatural miracle!) we can’t keep shifting our focus only to what God does in the natural.
In our lives today – what are we hoping for? We can see our physical needs and/or wants, those are easy to spot – but is there perhaps a connection to a greater spiritual gift or promise God is waiting to show us? A greater promise perhaps connected to the miracle we’re hoping for in the natural?
Abraham, in the physical, wanted a son. But the outflow, or result of that desire being met (Isaac) was connected to an even greater miracle God wanted to do in his life: Making him the father of many nations. And it’s so beautiful and just like our God to give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). He did in fact bless Abraham with a son. But He used the very thing Abraham was longing for in the natural as a confirmation of the greater miracle and promise God had for him. However, Isaac was not intended to be the focus, or become center of Abraham’s life. Remember, God later called him to sacrifice the very thing he had hoped and dreamed for, testing what was first place in his life. How sad it would have been if Abraham would have kept his focus only on the answer to his desire in the natural. The fulfillment of the spiritual promise still had to take place. The fulfillment of the spiritual promise didn’t even really come through the physical promise, it was simply confirmed by it. Romans 9:8-10 states that being a descendant of Abraham didn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. God told Abraham that Isaac would be the son through which his descendants (different than children) would be born (answer to the natural promise). But Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children (fulfillment of the spiritual promise).
When we focus only on what we can see in the natural, we can miss the whole point. In our impatience we can even try to force things to happen (look at Abraham and Ishmael). Our vision can also become small, distorted, and misaligned with what God really wants to do in our lives. Jesus says in Matthew 6:32 that “these things” (the things we have need for, or want or desire for in the natural) dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. It’s sad to say that many times, those same thoughts also dominate the thoughts of believers as well.
Are we setting our hearts on only those things we can see and are desperate for in the natural? Can we see any connection to an even greater promise God has for our lives? Galatians 6 reminds us that we will harvest what we plant. If we just continually sow to our flesh (focusing on only what we need in the natural) then that’s all we will harvest. But it’s when we can shift our focus to the vision God has for us, then we can begin to harvest to the eternal and as II Corinthians 4:18 says, the things we cannot see will last forever. God already knows what we have need of and He will meet all those needs and even some of our desires, but let’s not let them because the focus of our lives and totally miss the powerful, supernatural, eternal purposes of God.
“I am not moved by what I see; I am not moved by what I feel; I am only moved by what I believe.” Smith Wigglesworth
LGR
