Open Your Eyes and LOOK

In serving the Lord it is necessary, even vital to both look at what is before you and to look for, or towards, Him who is to come. We focus at all times towards the hope in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:3) and thus forth learning who He is and His character and nature He wants to develop within us. And as with the saying, “faith without works is dead,” (James 2:20-26) by learning His character and nature, your heart opens to the needs that are before you, and you work in unity with the Spirit of God. Without it, it is empty, meaningless deeds.

By looking at the needs before you, and desiring to act in accordance to the Lord’s will, your heart becomes tender, where it wasn’t before, and you are moved, even compelled, to work for Him. It’s not a “because I got to do what is right,” and therefore being in bondage, but a “I got to serve the Lord because my heart overflows in love with Him.” It’s that freedom in Christ that motivates you to look at what is before you and to serve Him, to act in accordance to His will. It’s a love that’s unconditional, that says I will serve Him no matter what, not a conditional love that says, “OK, I guess I have to--I’m supposed to, anyway,” which is built upon what you are feeling at the moment and therefore fleeting.

The things that God places within our lives remind us to look towards Him, to who He is and the destiny we have in Him. Let’s take the word, look, both in terms of looking at, which indicates a “now” reality-that which is physically before you-and looking to or looking towards, which is indicative of seeing beyond the physical world, and into the spiritual reality. Both are necessary and both work together.

In Genesis 9:16, it says, “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” Here is a physical reminder of God’s covenant with His people, and it’s something we can see with our physical eyes. It also points to the eternal, and directs us to reach toward that which is to come, and of His great love for us.

"And the LORD said unto Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which you see, to you will I give it,and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your descendants also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto you" (Genesis 13:14-17).

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now
toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Genesis 15:5).

In both of these scriptures, the Lord was showing Abram something in the physical world to get him to look toward what was not seen or known in the “now time“ of his life. But with that promise came something that he had to do. He had to walk it out to see it come to pass (Genesis 13:17).

Of course, if man was to merely look with his physical eyes, we would all be in a lot of trouble. Before David was anointed to become King of Israel, Samuel took a look at Eliab, David’s oldest brother, and thought, surely he must be who God wants as the next King, but no, he wasn’t. With the Lord, one must also see what is beyond the physical realm and into what cannot be seen with the human eyes (1 Samuel 16:6-7) and must rely upon what God shows in the spirit.

Case in point: this was the same Eliab that accuses David of pride, insolence and irresponsibility--to name a few--when the Israelite army was facing Goliath. Eliab’s character and nature was readily apparent at this time, whereas David was on fire for God, sold out for Him, and filled with zeal (1 Samuel 17:25-30, especially verse 28).

In John 4:34-36:

“Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together” (emphasis mine).

Now if the disciples were to merely look at the fields in the physical they would be missing what Jesus wanted to show them. They had to look toward that eternal goal: Do the current task that is set before them by the Lord by working toward those eternal results.

“No, dear friends, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward (emphasis mine) to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up toward heaven”(Philippians 3:13-14, NLT).

In this world today we need both to see with our physical eyes and our spiritual eyes. Without both, we would miss the task which is before us, how to tangibly serve the Lord, and also be blind to the motivation of what is behind our work, of whether it is love for God or love for a certain reputation.