On a recent fall
vacation with my daughter and her family, we were reminiscing about how much
our grandchildren had grown and changed. In the course of the conversation, we
recalled when our granddaughter, Meg, was about three. A babysitter asked my
daughter if Meg’s vision had ever been checked. Regular physicals by the
pediatrician had not noted any vision problems so my daughter assumed Meg’s
eyesight was OK. However, the babysitter noticed Meg put her head close to
books when they were reading. My daughter had also noticed that occasionally
Meg would bump into things or trip and fall. To put our daughter’s mind at
ease, Meg was taken to an optometrist for an eye exam. The report was
startling. The doctor discovered that Meg was almost legally blind. Evidently
since birth she had been compensating for her poor vision with her other
senses. A prescription for glasses, that seemed to be as thick as the bottom of
soda bottles, vastly improved her limited vision. She had a vision of life as
she saw it without realizing it was a distorted view. Now she proudly wears a
stylish pair of glasses and enjoys seeing things that she previously had never
clearly seen.
As our conversation continued it became
apparent Meg was uneasy about us talking about her former vision problem. She
shyly and quietly said, “I didn’t know that I didn’t see.” Assuring her that we
were not making fun of her, we told her she had nothing of which to be ashamed.
We were sorry her vision problem had not been noticed earlier and corrected.
That event prodded me to think about my
spiritual vision. Do I have distorted spiritual perspectives and am I unaware
of my situation? Perhaps I am so used to having a spiritually distorted vision
that I assume that the distortions are reality. It is only when one’s spiritual
vision is corrected that one realizes how inept perspectives have been. There
have been times I thought I knew how God operates only to discover that “His
ways are not our ways” (Isaiah 55:8-9). I may be so convinced that God must
work according to certain human procedures and constraints that I do not see
how God might work in a situation I have deemed impossible.
When I read the Christmas story in Luke, I
see how a person’s spiritual vision may be distorted. Angel Gabriel announced
to Mary that she would have a baby (1:31-33). Her response was, “How can this
be, since I am a virgin?” (1:34). Distorted spiritual vision caused her to look
at the news she received and conclude, “That’s impossible!” Focusing upon her current
condition would not allow her to accept the announcement she heard. The vision
she had only allowed her to see life through natural processes not by
supernatural intervention.
God graciously corrected her vision by
giving her the “lens” of divine revelation. God revealed Himself as one who
could intervene in life, control processes, and produce His desired results
(1:35-36). The angel assured her, “For nothing is impossible with God” (1:37).
In that instant God was saying, “You need to see life differently than you have
ever seen it before.”
What did she do with this new vision? She
accepted life as God saw it, not as she saw it. This allowed her to submit her
life to God as a willing servant. No longer did she see things as unimaginable
or as impossible. She now saw life through the unlimited perspective of a God
who could do all things in any way He saw fit. Such a vision eliminates the
barriers of conventional wisdom, expands the dimensions of probabilities, and
explodes the myth that God does not intervene in His world. With her expanded
and corrected vision, is it any wonder her perplexity was turned to praise
(1:46-55)! Joseph, who was pledged to Mary, needed his vision adjusted too. He
received a revelation that God was working in an unimaginable way in his
betrothed so that a Savior could be born “to save his people from their sins”
(Matthew 1:20-21). God was providing for humanity’s greatest need in a way that
people would conclude was impossible. Joseph, however, was now seeing life in a
new way. Thus he also obediently submitted his life to fulfill God unimaginable
plan (1:24-25).
Certainly in all of our lives there are
times we think a situation in life is impossible. Personally our financial
situation may look bleak. Perhaps we have received a disturbing medical
prognosis that shrouds us in anxiety. Maybe a relationship is in crisis and it
appears like things are hopeless. Nationally and internationally the news may
be depressing and the hope for peace and security seems elusive. In all
likelihood you could suggest many other scenarios that one might label
“impossible.” Perhaps these occasions require that our vision be adjusted so
that we look at life beyond the natural and consider God may have a
supernatural plan in mind.
In these moments we need to recall the
message given to Mary that cleared her distorted vision, “Nothing is impossible
with God.” The message of Christmas is that God intervenes in His way, in His
time, and in unimaginable and impossible ways. God is not limited by the
conventional, the practical, the normal, or the way things are traditionally done.
He steps into a messy world marred by sin and provides deliverance according to
His sovereignly designed plan. Our response must be like Mary and Joseph. Once
their vision was adjusted to see their situation the way God did they yielded
to His plan for their lives. Faith in what God can do allows us to see the impossible
as possible.
