Category: Seeing

The Importance of Vision - Proverbs 29:18

11/27/2012

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

Vision is something that is truly necessary for those who want to walk in God's way. Some view vision as some kind of "on the spot" leadership or direction from God. Yet this passage seems to be saying something different. Let's take a look today at what it means to have vision - as well as where it comes from in our lives.

The warning here is very simple - where there is not vision, bad things happen. We read here that the people are unrestrained without it. The word "vision" is from the Hebrew word "hazon" which means a revelation, a vision, and oracle - which all points to a divine communication. We see that this must be a communication from God - because the second half of the proverb speaks of the law. Without a word from God - a true one - the people will live unrestrained lives. The word unrestrained paints an interesting picture for us. It comes from the Hebrew word "para" which means to be let loose. Exodus 32:25 uses this word to describe how the people of Israel were completely unrestrained when Moses was up on the mountain getting the 10 commandments from God. He told Aaron that he had let the people get out of hand. The idea was that they were morally and spiritually out of control. They had made a god of their own with their gold, and were currently worshipping that false god with a feast that was morally bankrupt. It resembled something more like a drunken orgy. That throws a great deal of light on this statement in Proverbs.

When there is no word and no revelation of God - the people will quickly become bankrupt morally. They will get completely out of hand in how they view spiritual things and that will lead to a looser and looser set of morals by which they live. As said here - they will be unrestrained. It is that revelation of Who God is that will help keep us in check morally. And for the people of Israel that involved the law of God. We read that the happy man is the one who keeps the law. But for Israel this was not just a mere set of rules and regulations by which they had to live. It was more than that - it was a revelation of the heart and mind of God. It revealed to them just Who God was.

Knowing God by God's revelation of Himself did two things for Israel - and it does these two things for those of us who are wise enough to learn from it as well. First, we are more restrained spiritually and morally. We are restrained from making a God in our own likeness and after our own desires. This, according to Romans 1, is what we will do if we do not have a revelation of God given to us from which to learn these things. We will make a god just like us - who will act just like us - and in the end, will approve of how we wanted to live. If you think this is wrong - just look at the Greek gods of mythology. They were as debauched as any human - and their actions resembled fallen men more than they did a loving, benevolent, holy God. No God, no restraint - Know God, know restraint. The second thing that we are blessed with in knowing God's revelation of Himself is happiness. The word for "happy" is "eser" which means to be in a state of joyful bliss. It refers to the kind of long-term happiness that comes from knowing and walking in God's favor in our lives.

A wise man is one who regularly refers to God's revelation of Himself. He does not make his own God who then approves of how he wants to live. He learns to relate to God because of Who he sees in Scripture. Some things are not to be left to our human minds - and the nature and character of God is one of them. Knowing Him by His revelation of Himself creates true joy in our hearts - and a true fear of God that will help us make good moral and spiritual choices.

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A Call to Moral Sanity, part 5 - God Sees! Proverbs 5:21

7/14/2011

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For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths. Proverbs 5:21

As was said yesterday, this is the main reason why the father is taking the time to counsel his son on the issues of moral and sexual sanity. Our ways are before the eyes of the Lord - or said another way - GOD SEES ALL THINGS.

This has to do with the very nature of God. God is Spirit - and therefore can be all places at all times. This truth has to do with God's omnipresence and omniscience. God's omnipresence means that God is everywhere. There is not a place in the entire universe where God is not present. In Psalm 139 David wrote of this when he said,

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (Psalm 139:7-10)

The idea of God's omnipresence is communicated when David tells Solomon that the eyes of Jehovah are on the ways of men. God watches our paths. David knew this because he thought no one was looking when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. God was looking - and he watched David's path into sexual sin. The day came when God sent one of His prophets, Nathan, to David to confront him openly about what David thought he had done secretly.

The other doctrine that we see here is that of God's omniscience. God knows all things. He knows when we sin - and he knows when two people have agreed to get together and commit adultery. There is nothing that we can hide from Him - because He is God! His power and His might are unparalleled - but so is His presence and knowledge. There is NO limit to either of these things. Therefore, it is wise for us to remember this about Him - and act accordingly. This means understanding and knowing His Word, which reveals to us His heart on moral and sexual matters.

Here is a verse that should help to guide us when it comes to the matter of moral and sexual sanity. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the need for each one of them to possess their own vessel in Ssanctification and honor. Here the vessel is themselves - and especially their sexuality. Here is what Paul said,

For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 1 Thessalonians 4:2-6

God desires to sanctify us - and part of that sanctification is helping us to maintain moral and sexual sanity! We are to carry ourselves and our sexuality in "sanctification and honor" rather than in "lustful passion." When Paul later says that we should not "transgress and defraud his brother in the matter," what he is speaking of is adultery. The brother we transgress and defraud is the one whose wife with whom we've had adultery. Paul then gives us a promise in regard to this - that God will be the avenger in this matter.

God sees and knows all - and as a result we should be wise and fear Him by turning from sin - especially sexual sin. This is not just a warning from a parent who is a little overprotective of his or her child. It is God, knowing our frame and our weakness - and warning us about how sexual sin can take us captive and destroy our lives. But I believe at the root of this admonition is not just a negative warning - but a positive one as well. If we know that our ways are before Jehovah - and that He is watching our paths - we can turn to Him in time of temptation. We can cry out to Him for deliverance and for strength to stand. We can know, as Scripture tells us, that no temptation that has overcome us is not common to man - but God will provide with it a way of escape so that we may endure. He is there - and when faced with serious sexual temptation we need to turn to Him, listen to Him, and in the process shut out the voice of the devil. He truly is there - not waiting to smack us upside the head - but waiting to meet us and strengthen us so that we may stand - and having done everything - to remain standing!

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The Life and Times of the Drunken Fool Part 3 - Effects on our Eyes and Mouth - Proverbs 23:33

4/26/2011

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Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. Proverbs 23:33

In our look at the life and times of the drunken fool we next encounter the physical effects of alcohol on our eyes and mouth. It is a proven fact medically that alcohol will affect our minds - and through that our ability to think and respond to things clearly.

Our brains control both of these functions and since the brain has a large blood supply going to them, they are more quickly influenced by the alcohol levels rising in our blood due to drinking. Within less than an hour two major problems develop for the drunken fool. First the
brain itself is hindered from its ability to have nerves function normally. Alcohol in the blood supply depresses our nerve conductivity - thus it also results in a slow down of our ability to think and react to things. Next as the blood alcohol level reaches muscles - our eye muscles will lose their full ability to function and we will begin to have blurred vision. As these things are multiplied by the drunken fool - the brain may begin to misinterpret information and won't react properly to stimuli that are coming to it. The more acute the situation the more that things become distorted with some even having hallucingenic conditions in their comprehension of what is happening to them. One thing I learned while researching these things on the internet is that this is why we should never drink and drive. The more drunk someone is - the more their ability to react to stimuli is impaired - making them very dangerous on the road. One test involved giving goggles to drivers that simulated various stages of drunkenness. At lower blood alcohol levels the failure level of drivers to pass even simple tests was frightening to see. Things only got worse as the person's blood alcohol levels rose.

The second statement here is that not only will the drunken fool see strange things - but he will also say "perverse things." When the brain is filled with higher and higher levels of blood alcohol - the brains ability to filter things is severely hampered. Things that would normally be supressed flow freely. The fact that perversity flows more at these blood alcohol levels should be of little shock to us since we know that the Bible says that we are fallen and sinful. I've been around people who said the most horrible things when they were drunk. There are people who are the nicest most discreet folks until they get some liquor into them. Suddenly their mouths are transformed as they begin to curse and say sexually perverse things to the opposite sex. Some were horrified to learn how they spoke the next day as they recovered from their drunken state. Yet a simple reading of Romans chatper 3 should remind us that one of the traits of the sinful nature is its horrific effect on the mouth and the tongue. Romans 3:13-14 tells us that sinful man's throat is, "an open grave." We are also told, "With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips." Finally we are reminded there that their mouths are, "full of cursing and bitterness." Oh how the mouth of fallen man is loosed without any discernment when alcohol numbs their thinking and their conscience. Unfortunately, I've known of relationships that were ended because of things that were said in a drunken stupor.

The wise man knows that the last thing he needs is a relaxation of his ability to discern and discreetly chose how he speaks and lives. Since alcohol deadens these things, wisdom tells us to steer clear of all abuse of alcohol. Wisdom warns us against drinking any level of alcoholic beverages because it may deaden our heart's ability to hold our tongues from saying truly stupid and foolish things. Such passages as these in Proverbs should warn even the novice that taking up an alcoholic drink can be dangerous indeed - especially if we want to see things clearly and speak those things that honor and glorify God.

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Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 6 of 7 - Distractions and Focus

3/22/2011

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Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Proverbs 4:25

Godly fathers warn their sons about distractions. It was a distraction that led to the fall of mankind. It was when Satan got the man and the woman to look at the one thing they probably should not have set in their sights that they were distracted enough to make the mistake of not just look at it - but partake of the forbidden fruit. In much the same way, our sons are being constantly given things to look at that are not wise for them to put in the path of their vision. What we look at long enough - will so fill our vision that we want to partake of it. That can get our sons in all kinds of trouble.

Dad speaks frankly with his sons, telling them to have their eyes look directly in front of them. He says this again with greater intensity telling the boys to let their gaze be fixed straight in front of them. This is important for sons because they are going to face a tremendous amount of visual stimulation from the world. We are warned against a worldliness where we live for the lust of our eyes. This warning should remind us as fathers that what our eyes see can stimulate very strong desires that cry out for fulfillment.

David had a vision of a beautiful woman bathing in front of his eyes one evening in Jerusalem. He could have looked away, but rather than do this, David fixed his gaze upon Bathsheba. Soon, looking was not enough for David - he had to have more. That look led to a horrible set of problems, beginning with adultery, and ending with a devastating set of consequences for his entire family - indeed, for all of Israel.

Oh, how we need to use such things to warn our sons against the sins of the eyes. How we need to warn them to keep their vision fixed straight in front of them. They need to have a vision that dominates their lives - and it needs to be one where they focus on Christ. Paul told us that when we gaze at Him with unveiled faces that we will be transformed into the very image that is set before our eyes. May we be diligent in encouraging our sons to have that vision be the Lord Jesus Christ!

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Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 2 of 7 (What's In Their Eyes and Heart)

3/5/2011

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Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. Proverbs 4:21

The father next reminds his sons that what is before his eyes will be what eventually dominates his choices. He reminds him to not let the sayings he gives him - and the Scripture upon which they are based to depart from his eyes. There is so much in our society that tries desperately to grab the attention of our eyes. Even though we may place the Word of God and the commandments of God before the eyes of our children, they must be warned that there will be a concerted effort to have their eyes drawn away from such things.

Think about the advertising business for a moment with me. They spend millions of dollars researching just what images have the greatest impact. Each year during the Super Bowl, companies spend over a million dollars for 30-60 seconds just to get the greatest impact upon the eyes of those who watch that event. They do it becuase they want the images and the thoughts that come with them to stick with us. And to be honest with ourselves, we have to admit that the majority of those images and messages run contrary to the Word of God. This is why we need to impress upon our sons the importance of not letting God's commandments and God's Word depart from our sight.

People ask me why I urge people to have a DAILY quiet time where they read and meditate upon God's Word. It is because when they walk out the door to begin their day, they need that word impressed and engraved upon their very souls and hearts. That is what the father says here to his son. Keep these words - these sayings - these quotations in your heart! There will be hundreds of messages a day that will run contrary to them - seeking to have us live for something that is 180 degrees counter to God's will for our lives. But do not let these images and these things dominate your sight - keep your eyes fixed on the Word of God - and the wil of God as it is expressed to you there.

Remember the number of times we are warned of the wiles of the immoral woman. Almost every time that warning includes a warning not to let ourselves be captured by her appearance. 1 John 2:15-17 warns as well that one of the things we will face consistently is a temptation to live by the lust of our eyes. Proverbs 23:26 and the verses that follow it are a similar appeal, "Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways." This appeal comes moments before the father warns his son of the dangers of the immoral woman and her appeal to his eyes - and the way that alcohol appeals to the eyes as we look into glass as it is placed before us. The eyes are the portal to our souls. If we look long enough and hard enough at something it can have a powerful affect upon us. This works both ways with us. Paul told the Corinthians that as we gaze on the glory of the Lord - we can be transformed into that same glory as the Holy spirit works within us.

Dads, focus your sons on the Word - and warn them about the ways that their eyes will be used against their own best interests. Don't hide from them the way that the world will make its appeal. Call them to fix their eyes on the Word of God - so that the Word they see will move through their sight into their hearts where it will transform them more and more to God's ways and God's character. What they see will affect them. Make sure they know that in this battle for their soul, the one thing to keep before them is God's Word.

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The God Who Made Our Ears and Eyes - Proverbs 20:12, part 3

12/22/2010

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The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them. Proverbs 20:12

This last day we will spend on this verse has to do not just with the physical creation of our ears and eyes, but rather with some philosophic and religious implications of this fact. What should we learn from the fact that God has made our ears and eyes?

Psalm 94:9 will help us here with these things. Psalm 94 is written to help us see that God is Who He is - GOD! Psalm 94 is a psalm about God's judgment that is coming upon a disobedient people. It is about people who ignore God's warnings about pride and rebellion. As these people do their wicked acts, they do so with the attitude that "The Lord coes not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed." Their attitude is that God doesn't have the ability to see their actions and their deeds.

The answer that God gives them is given in verse 8-10 which read as follows, "Pay heed, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke, Even He who teaches man knowledge?"

God's philosophical question to these people is this. The God Who made us in His image - and who made us with ears that hear and eyes that see - do you not think that He can hear and see? To think that this is not the case is really stupid and senseless. God hears and sees. But what is terrifying is to grasp that as an infinite being God's hearing and sight are not limited to time and space like our own. He hears and sees ALL THINGS! There is nothing that is beyond His perview - and as such - all will give an account to Him. Verse 10 tells us that the God who chastens nations - will he not also chasten the individual?

This says something to us that we absolutely need to hear. God is God - He made the hearing ear and the seeing eye. Since we are made in His image - that means that He too can both hear and see. That is why a simple assertion in Proverbs chapter 20 should make us step back and consider such a thing. It should also help us to embrace wisdom. Wisdom is living in such a way that we realize that we are walking in God's sight - walking before Him. What He says we should heed - what He commands we should do - and what we think we can hide - we should wake up and know that even our most hidden actions, thoughts, and words are as clear as day in His sight. Knowing this helps a wise man to live "pleasing" in His sight. Rejecting it is the ultimate insult to God. We equate to Him and blindness and deafness that dishonors Him greatly. But the fact is that men and women who do not acknowledge His omniscience are the ones blind and deaf.

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The Seeing Eye - Proverbs 20:12

12/20/2010

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The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them.
Proverbs 20:12

I am sure that Audiologists, Optometrists, and Opthamologists are thankful for the fact of this verse. On a factual level we learn that God is the One who made our eyes and ears. Some might take this very lightly - and see this as a kind of "duh" statement. There are two ways that we will take a few minutes today to see this truth given to us in Proverbs.

The Lord made the seeing eye. That is a far more amazing thing than we realize. There are few things in this world more absolutely amazing than the way an eye. When we take time to seriously consider this - we will come away with an utter astonishment at God's handiwork.

The eye is so astounding in what it does that no less than Charles Darwin said this about the supposed evolution of the eye in his book, The Origin of the Species.

"To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree."

Of course Darwin later said that this problem was just an illusion and explained how the eye evolved. Sadly, though, Darwin had no idea just how utterly complex the eye actually is. Just to have a photocell receive light involves a complex series of protein interactions. Most animals without any kind of eye or eye-spot system - would have to evolve these proteins, learn to facilitate their interaction, as well as develop a nerve pathway to their brain through which these interactions could be interpreted, understood, and used for whatever reason sight would be developed. This is to say nothing of the complexity of the retina and the optic nerve - which both are almost beyond comprehension in how they work - not again to mention how they would be formed through materials that don't exist within the species that supposedly are developing them. What I've described is just a series of chemical reactions that would have to develop in an animal for the purpose of making sight possible in the chemical sphere. There is also the amazing way that our eyes function similarly to a video camera - except with an almost infinitely more minute ability to focus and move. Our eyes move due to six sets of muscles on each eye that work in marvelous coordination so that we can experience binocular vision. There is also the way that our tear ducts wash and protect our eyes from drying out and the way our eyelids provide protection and a way to evenly distribute the water formed by our tear ducts over our entire eye. A group of mathmeticians tried to figure out the number of calculations that it would take for a man to dribble a few times - focus his eyes on a basket - and use his eyes to coordinate his muscles so as to make a 15 foot set shot in basketball. This action alone would fry our greatest supercomputer - and keep it busy for days. Yet our eyes do that work in a matter of a couple of seconds and quickly move on to the next task necessary. The complexity of the human eye is enough to boggle the mind. Thus to say that God made it is not something overly simple - but actually something that is absolutely true in every way.

When we look at the human eye we should not think of randomness and something that happened by accident. What we should see is a small part of the body that is so astounding in what it does that we see the handiwork of God. Rather than try to make a ridiculous way that the human eye could have developed by random unguided processes. It is truly fascinating what some will do to make sure that there is not a God Who rules the affairs of men - and sets a standard of conduct for them to follow. I guess it goes to show that even though God gave men a glorious organ by which he can see - men are still blind to the One Who gave it to them.

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Proverb A DAy

The Importance of Vision - Proverbs 29:18

A Call to Moral Sanity, part 5 - God Sees! Proverbs 5:21

The Life and Times of the Drunken Fool Part 3 - Effects on our Eyes and Mouth - Proverbs 23:33

Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 6 of 7 - Distractions and Focus

Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 2 of 7 (What's In Their Eyes and Heart)

The God Who Made Our Ears and Eyes - Proverbs 20:12, part 3

The Seeing Eye - Proverbs 20:12

Proverb a Day

Archives

​Proverb A DAy

The Importance of Vision - Proverbs 29:18

A Call to Moral Sanity, part 5 - God Sees! Proverbs 5:21

The Life and Times of the Drunken Fool Part 3 - Effects on our Eyes and Mouth - Proverbs 23:33

Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 6 of 7 - Distractions and Focus

Speaking Frankly With Our Sons, Part 2 of 7 (What's In Their Eyes and Heart)

The God Who Made Our Ears and Eyes - Proverbs 20:12, part 3

The Seeing Eye - Proverbs 20:12

Proverb a Day

Archives

Proverb A DAy