There are levels of seeing in the Bible. One is the seeing with
the physical eyes of things which we are prepared to see and
receive as real. Another is the seeing with the physical eyes of
things which we may not yet be prepared to see and so miss, even
though they are there before our eyes. We need a change of mind to
prepare us to see them, even though nothing changes outside us at
all. Third, there is the seeing with the eyes of the heart, which
is a spiritual apprehension of moral and spiritual beauty. We need
this third seeing in order to be saved, and we need the second in
order to see solutions and be effective leaders. (Though I should
add that some blind people have ways of seeing reality with their
hands and ears that may be more penetrating than the seeing of many
people with physical eyes.)

The experience I had on my running machine illustrates level-two
seeing. I am looking into the picture on the wall in front of me
and seeing something reflected in the glass. I can tell that what I
am looking at is the reflection of the window behind me and the
house next door. But there are some strange shapes that have points
at the top, and I can't figure out what they are. Suddenly, with no
change outside of me, I see. The shapes are nothing. They are the
spaces between the icicles hanging from the gutters just above my
study window. For ten seconds I was not "seeing" reality with my
physical eyes. Then something happened in my mind; all at once I
saw the icicles for what they were, and from then on, I could not
help but see reality.

We all know what it is to see with our physical eyes what we are
prepared to see. But the other two ways of seeing are less obvious.
Let's consider the scriptures that illustrate these two levels.

Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart

Ephesians 1:18, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
Matthew 13:13, "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because
while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear,
nor do they understand." This is what I mean when I say that there
is a spiritual apprehension of moral and spiritual beauty. We may
look at our hope of being with Christ and yet fail to apprehend
anything that moves us with its spiritual and moral beauty. In that
case we need to pray the way Paul does that the "eyes of our heart"
may be enlightened to see and know our hope for what it really is -
true and glorious and good and infinitely valuable.

Seeing with the Physical Eyes What We Did Not See before Our
Minds Were Changed

Genesis 21:19, "Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of
water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad
a drink." Hagar was sitting in the presence of a well, and yet
despairing about her helpless situation without water. Oh how near
are many of our solutions! But we don't see them. May God give us
the change of mind to see what is really there.

Not quite in this same category are the realities that can be
seen with the physical eyes, but which are not ordinarily available
to our sight because God conceals them. 2 Kings 6:17, "Then Elisha
prayed and said, 'O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.'
And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around
Elisha."

Hagar's seeing of the well and Elisha's servant's seeing of the
chariots are probably not in the same category. Hagar's seeing is
like my seeing the icicles. Elisha's servant's seeing is more
miraculous than that, as God opens the window onto ordinarily
"unseen" reality. But the seeing still seems to be with the
physical eyes. I think in the same category with Hagar's seeing the
well is the men's seeing of Jesus at supper in Emmaus after the
resurrection: Luke 24:31, "Then their eyes were opened and they
recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight."

Pray for the leaders of our church that God would give us sight
at every level. We need to see spiritual beauty above all things.
Then we need to see the obvious. Then we need to see the "wells"
that are nearby - like the icicles. Pray for our eyes.

Pastor John