June 11

“By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrew 11:27)

When our children were small we lived near the sea in Norway. We had a beautiful view of the fjords from our kitchen window. Our children often went straight from the meal table, and with their sticky fingers against the window they stood and observed the ferries that plied the water to and fro across the sea. The windows were, as you will understand, not always so easy to keep clean.

When someone visited us, they were always fascinated by the wonderful view. They always went straight to the window to observe the beauty. It would happen that I would stand there ashamed of the windows that were spotted with sticky impressions of children’s’ hands. Concurrently the guest stood at my side and saw straight through the dirt and admired the view. And the strange thing was that I could choose if I wanted to see the smudges on the window or if I wanted to see the lovely view beyond. I had to choose. I couldn’t see both at the same time. If I observed the view beyond, I was happy. If I looked at the smudges I was unhappy.

Today’s Bible verse concerns Moses who could remain steadfast in spite of severe difficulties, based on his ability to choose the correct focus point on which to lock his gaze. His focus was on Jesus – ‘the invisible’. As a result, he was unable to concurrently give thought to all of the impossibilities surrounding him. It was his choice of focus that allowed him to hold fast.

Prayer

Lord, there is much dirt in this world. Help me to see beyond that which would pull me down today. I want to choose to have my focus on Your glory and power, so that Your joy will fill me.