Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
If you caught any of the news coverage of the rescue of the Chilean miners you would have seen them emerge from underground wearing very nice Oakley sunglasses. You see, while the men were underground for 69 days they did not see sunlight. Their eyes were totally dilated, which made them more susceptible to the harmful effects of UV rays. This is a good picture of seeing the invisible; before we were born again we lived in a world of spiritual darkness (Eph. 4:18), but when we receive Christ we are given the ability to see the invisible (Jn. 3:3). Typically God does not open our eyes to the invisible all at once, as it would overwhelm us. It is a process of learning and adapting to see the invisible and gain understanding of what you are seeing.
The most foundational way to look at the invisible is by faith as this is the fundamental way we know God. Speaking of Moses the Bible says, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27). It was Moses’ faith that enabled him to see the invisible things of God, for faith is “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). It is also important to see that it was not faith alone as Moses acted upon what he believed to be true as “faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:20). I have learned if you do not act on your seeing you will soon stop seeing.
Another foundational way to look at the invisible is through natural creation.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, Romans 1:20.
It is saying that we can look at the physical, natural, created things to get a picture or understanding of the invisible things of God. He has made the material, physical universe to be a parallel and parable of the spiritual realm that can’t be seen. For example, little children reveal to us the way into His kingdom (Mk. 10:15).
A real big key for me was discovering the fact that many times the invisible we are to see unfolds. It is like unfolding a map and laying it out on a table to see where you are going.
The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalms 119:130
Many times we do not stay with what the Lord is revealing. We quickly move on about our day or the next thing before we get what He is showing us (Jas. 1:25). If we will give time to mediation, reflecting, praying and looking into what He has shown us more will be revealed and understanding will eventually come (2 Cor. 3:18).
Finally, I have learned we tend to make seeing the invisible harder than it really is. A few years ago at the beginning of a Sunday service the Lord clearly spoke to me, “You are making this much harder than it has to be.” God wants us to know He has made seeing the invisible easy; we just have to let it be easy.
A.W. Tozer captures this in his book The Pursuit of God. He brings out that looking, or beholding, is the same as faith. He writes,“Believing then, is directing the hearts attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to behold the Lamb of God, and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.” He goes on to say, “Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. It would be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us.”
Many Blessings, BW