Tip of My Iceberg

photo courtesy of Baptiste Buisson on Unsplash

I have a sweet friend who has been losing his eyesight slowly over the past several years. A degenerative disease has methodically robbed him of the clarity of vision to the point where he is legally blind and uses a guide dog.

What amazes me about my friend is his gracious acceptance of what is and has happened. For quite a while he sought ways to stop the progression of sight loss, trying various clinical trials that would halt the ongoing course of this disease.

Nothing worked.

He came to grips with what was inevitable. His kind wife tried to help him every way she could, but she was at a loss to be of any ongoing assistance. She finally told him that he needed to own responsibility for moving forward with what was happening. She’d help in every way she could, but it was up to him to deal with these consequences in a way that would work for him.

photo courtesy of Little Plant on Unsplash

This is neither unkind nor uncaring. We each have issues to deal with in our lives that we must own and be held accountable for. We can accept help from others, but ultimately we’re faced with decisions we must make.

Culturally we’re living in a time where it’s easier to pass the buck than own responsibility for decisions we make. Pain and discomfort often push us to find a scapegoat for our problems, someone else we can blame for our misery or discontent.

What my friend has been going through was not brought on by anything he did. Often, however, our decisions bring on negative consequences that we must live with.

King David should have been at war with his men; it was springtime, when kings normally went to war. But he opted to stay at home while his army fought in his stead. One evening he was on his rooftop when he spied a woman bathing on the roof of a nearby home. Smitten with her, he ordered her brought to him and slept with her. She conceived a child.

David felt guilt at this time and brought her husband back from war, hoping he’d sleep with his wife and would think the child she carried was his. But this man was so loyal to his king that he never went home but slept at the palace entrance. His plan having failed, David told his general to put this man at the front of the battle and pull back so he’d be killed. This plan worked.

David’s friend, the prophet Nathan, told him a story of a man taking advantage of another who was poor and of lesser rank, with the rich man killing the only lamb the poor man owned instead of killing one of his own for a feast. David became incensed at the injustice and said the man should die for his actions. Nathan informed him that he was that man.

“Then David confessed to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.’” 2 Samuel 12:13-14,

Consequences happen. David owned what he had done, but it took a while. The consequences for his actions were hard, but he knew he deserved what had happened. And he trusted God to do what was right.

My friend didn’t necessarily “deserve” what happened with his sight, but God has strengthened him in the midst of it. The apostle Paul understood that when he was challenged with a health issue that weakened him physically. His response showed that he saw God in the midst of his circumstances.

“‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Hard things happen in life, some as a result of poor decisions on our part, some because we live in a broken world with broken people. The blessing in either case is being able to see things from a different perspective, a holy perspective that shows that God is engaged in our lives, not for our punishment but for our purification.

My friend sees life in a way now that he wasn’t able to see before. There’s a depth to his insights that come from understanding that life is far richer than what we see with our eyes.

He understands that the eyes of his heart provide him with appreciation that he lacked before.

God provides sight and insight into life that we often miss because we only see the surface of what is.

How well do you see?