Open My Eyes

Have you ever been doing some chore around the house and your child comes up to you to ask you a question?  You continue your work but listen also to the words your child speaks to you, answering as needed; getting the gist of the conversation.  Neither of the activities has your full attention, but you have been able deal with both.  Perhaps later, when your child revisits the conversation, you have scant memory of what was said and what was decided.

This is often how I treat time with God, when I am reading His word or talking to Him.  I am busy with several things in addition to being with God.  Today I realized I need to really pay attention. Just as it is rude to only half listen to my child; it is rude to partially pay attention to my Creator.

How often God shows Himself in His word and I am too busy planning my day while reading.  There have been times, because I was dividing my attention, that only after the fact have I realized God has been using a person or a scripture to bless me. I had missed what was intended in my attempt to be efficient.
 Trying to use my time wisely, I end up squandering my time with God and people, short changing them and my self by allowing my attention be elsewhere.

In thinking of this new realization it made me recall the episode in 2Kings 6 when the prophet Elisha was trapped in the city of Dothan surrounded by the army of the king of Aram.  Elisha’s servant was fearful and worried when he looked out and saw the huge army, leaving them no way of escape.  The servant was not paying attention to what he knew of God, only trying to figure out how to flee.   Elisha was not fearful even though he could see the same situation as his servant. Elisha’s attention was on God, on the movements and ways of God.  His prayer for his servant needs to be my prayer for my self.    “And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire…’”2Kings 6:17.

 How often have you been fearful and done nothing but fear?  How often have you tried to combine too many activities and do none with your whole heart?  Far too often that is the case for me.  But then God breaks through my stubborn heart and I see.  I see His grace at work as a long, lost friend shows up at the door. I see clearly His handiwork in the lives of those around me as I visit with a friend and we talk about what is truly important.   The incessant chatter around me is silenced and I see the obvious love of the Father for His children. 

I don’t want to be so occupied that I miss seeing God’s work, that I become oblivious to His presence.  Being of earth, we often get so involved in the acts of daily living that we forget that we are also the children of God.  But because we have the Spirit of God within us, we are more than just clay.  It is God who opens our eyes and gives us our time; but we are required to see through open eyes and to invest ourselves in the time given. We certainly can leave the chores and the concerns of life aside for a while and listen to Him with our whole mind and our whole heart. Because then we will really see.