Have you ever looked at one of those stereograms before? Here is one to look at. So you don’t go crazy, you are looking for two dolphins jumping out of the waves. Blow up the picture on your screen and stare “through” it while looking at the center. Let your eyes go out of focus and then you will start to see it. Here is the trick for the “full experience:” As the image comes into focus, let your eyes “roam” around trying to see the image but not look at the picture itself. The more you practice the easier it is. Pretty cool.
I think our journey is much like one of these stereograms. When we look too hard at the surface we really miss the picture within. The secret to unlocking one of these pictures is to relax your eyes and stop trying so hard to see. When you focus so hard, you can’t relax or “rest” and see what God has to show you. We really need to learn how to rest in God. There are so many truths for us just within the picture. The Holy Spirit will bring our eyes into focus so we can see the “mystery” inside the words.
When we rest in God we begin to see who He is. When we draw near to God we get to experience who He is. When we let Him, He intercedes.
Heb 4:10 For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own. 11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell]. 12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.(AMP)
The nation of Israel failed to believe in God’s promise. When they came to the land of Canaan, the spies came back with a collective bad report. Their disobedience was unbelief. Likewise today we have a choice to enter into His promises or continue to strive in the wilderness. All we have to do is believe in His word which are His promises. We may not see the path forward because we are so consumed by the problem, but God has said He will provide. As I rest in that promise, the image just “pops out at me.” I begin to see as God sees. I no longer see the problem but begin to see solutions. Just like the stereograms, I see something I didn’t know was there. Like a master surgeon God transforms us by His word or logos, His promises.
1 Cor 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV)
So we have the mind of Christ. We can meditate on the goodness of God in all situations and begin to “see” like He does and find the depth of His wisdom. We don’t have to do this alone any more. We don’t have to figure it all out all the time. We get to trust in Him to show us. The only thing that limits us is what we believe. The nation of Israel could have entered God’s rest (the promised land) right away. God was going to take care of the whole thing. What they saw was not what He saw. Do we believe? Do we trust?
The most distracting thing is ourself. We can’t “let our eyes get out of focus” because we are so absorbed with self. We listen to the enemy (there are giants) and try to solve the problem ourselves (we will be like grasshoppers). Believe this one thing if nothing else. When God thinks of you, looks at you, listens to you, He hears His son. He sees Jesus. He can not reject you because of Jesus. He can not be mad of you because of Jesus. He doesn’t see your shortcomings only your potential. He did all that He did so He could get in you and you could live His life. Believe in that and the “rest” is easy. Believe in that and you will finally “see the dolphins.”
Yay Jesus!
Lance
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