A Peek at Myopia

Scripture: Psalm 118:24 - This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

The entertainer-singer Michael Jackson offered up to us a song, sometime ago, which included the lyrics "I'm lookin' at the man in the mirror. I'm askin' him to change his ways. I'm lookin' at the man in the mirror; If ya wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and... make that change!".  But in between pausing to look, and responding to what we see, for a glorious change we need more than our natural peek through natural eyes. We peer as though looking through a glass dimly, we peer and understand in part - we peer with hope, and with faith, and with the Lord's charity we shall one day see wholly, and likewise understand wholly, but only up until our perfecting will we know even as we are known by Him, that glorious day. [1Corinthians 13:10-12]  Even as we consider the Ten Commandments we find our efforts naturally to fall short, as we look at that mirror God gave. Who would've expected stone tablets to be a mirror? They inform, but they don't fix.

No matter how dearly we squint, or how grand our telescope, we will always be short-sighted, limited, sightful enough for the close and near, which is the meaning of 'myopia', to be nearsighted. Gratefully God appreciates our stumbling, and is merciful and patient. He loves Him some Mr. Magoo! [that be us]

Our sight, and our understanding, as well as our doing will fall short, even our righteousness.  We need to see our blindness. We need to see our poverty.

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."

[2Corinthians 8:9]  We must see our neediness, and know our limits as God illumines our inner view, with which we yearn for a savior, His work preceding our own, His goodness becoming our own by adoption.

Thank God, our God is a God of the odd! It is hard for me to reconcile humor with holiness, but I believe God has a sense of humor [and paradox]-

We surely can look at ourselves as proof, and we can look throughout the scriptures for such proofs...

Consider Moses, a stutterer with a rap sheet to be a patriarch, our hero Noah a momentary boozer, timid Gideon becoming champion, unwed Mary as one broke girl to be mom to the Messiah, apple-eatin' Adam the outback slacker with wife Eve the snake whisperer, Zacchaeus the itsy-bitsy crook & traitor, apostle Paul-once Saul the enforcer, grandpa Abraham and granny Sarah destined for children, weak-eyed Leah as matriarch, King David- voyeur, adulterer, murderer, and if believers are considered a 'bride', then Jonah is a runaway bride! Lets not forget that sneaky mama's boy named Jacob.

With God as potter, we are the play-doh from Dollar General.  Hereof we see the miraculous hand of God, taking little and making much ... gathering up the fragmented and creating the enormous... making of the formless void- a world, an Eden, and us. He posits Himself as our utter need.

More contemporarily, and less comically, we can see the hand of God in the lives of two particular civil war era personalities:

He, Josiah Henson, heard the preached word at age 18 years, knowing nothing outside of slavery, and responded with a changed life. As a youth he was nearly whipped to the level of crippling for attempting to read. Life was hard being born into slavery in Maryland, living 41 years as a slave. From Maryland he was sent to the midwest where life continued harshly, but his inward change prompted his leaving, and as a runaway with his family, on foot, went to Ontario Canada where he lived out his life, his adult years having him as minister, preacher, abolitionist, a builder of a mill, and the founder of a school [the British American Institute for Fugitive Slaves]; he participated in the Canadian militia, and was a conductor of the underground railroad. His influence became widespread as his life story became elaborated through the character 'Uncle Tom' in Harriet Beecher-Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', an expose' revealing American slavery and its brutality. The novel purportedly set the stage for the unrest that would be our civil war. Josiah Henson's virtue, dressed the character Uncle Tom. The school continues in Dresden, Ontario, Canada as an historic site, continuing to honor our brother in Christ,Josiah Henson. He lived from 1789 to 1883. The Book of Acts continues! The boatman that brought him across our northern waters to Canada said to him 'Use your freedom well.' Indeed he did, to the glory of God.

Nathan Bedford Forrest, was raised by a Christian mother, but was for much of his years a very capable ruffian, of the severest reputation, a known brawler who killed for the first time at age 16 years.  As he had to take over his family while young, he grew up quick, behind his father's death, and was naturally very capable in tactics, in business, in gambling, and in fightling, with a rage that would have him red-faced. He was known to be quick to cuss. As he approached prosperity part of his history includes being an owner of black slaves, and he was not benevolent. He joined the Confederacy and was known to be fierce, and led many very violent guerilla campaigns as well as calvary assaults. It was reported that union general Ulysses Grant feared not one confederate leader, except this one, who became high-ranking. His most notorious battle was more so a slaughter [the Battle of Fort Pillow], where outmatched and surrendering union troops, including a large number of fighting blacks were killed mercilessly. But when he heard the preached word in 1875 by Reverend Stainback, offering Matthew 7:24-27, and Psalm 51:1-3, he discovered his total depravity, and found himself gripped by an irresistible grace, by which he repented. Very noteworthy, he was asked to speak at a meeting of the Pole Bearers Association [an organization which preceded the NAACP], where he was presented a small bouquet by Lou Lewis, a young black girl, whom he saluted with a kiss on the cheek, unheard of for a white man to offer in that time and place, especially since he was, before his conversion, a founder and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan [Pulaski, TN 1867].

He lived most of his life as a hellion, but he died at age fifty-seven as a confessing Christian, with a compelling witness, to the utter surprise of many. God does work in mysterious ways! What amazing grace! What a mighty God we serve!

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for your reach of grace and mercy to me.  May I never underestimate the power of your mercy and your loving kindness, as well as your sovereign will to reach whom You choose, how You choose and when You choose. Open the eyes of my heart Lord, daily, that I may know of your perfect plan for me today. I pray, when my story is done, that faith and hope will be evident, and that goodness and mercy will follow me, because of what You've done and are doing.   (Psalms 51:1-3 - "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." )   Bless you Jesus! Amen!

(by Dr. McNeal Brockington)