What You See is What You Get

Nº 146 weekly devotions to refresh your soul by Dr. Dan Bolin - May 18, 2021

What you see is what you get

“Measure not God’s love and favour by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof.” - Richard Sibbes

A famous ambiguous illusion, viewed one way, shows a young girl with long hair and her head turned over her shoulder. Viewed another way reveals a wrinkled old woman with a large nose. Same picture, two very different perspectives. The world appeared differently to Isaiah from time to time. Some days things looked wonderful, other days, not so much. Occasionally he focused on the grandeur and glory of God, but at other times he saw only the wretchedness of the world. At one point, struck by the insensitivity, lies, and rebellion around him, he wrote, “...everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness.” (Isaiah 9:17). The whole world was full of mankind’s malice. But just a few chapters earlier, Isaiah had stood in awe of cherubim circling the throne room of heaven while “...calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3). We tend to see what we look for! It is easy to gawk at the painful, angry, and violent aspects of our world. They are hard to miss. But we need to redirect our gaze to the equally true yet sometimes obscure reality – the whole earth is full of God’s glory.

Dan Bolin President Refueling in Flight Ministries, Inc