Twenty-Twenty

VISION TEST

Twenty-Twenty. The numbers defining normal human vision, the ability to accurately discern and judge (Merriam-Webster’s). With twenty-twenty vision, we see things clearly.

Do you think the significance of this year’s number — 2020 — goes unnoticed by God? Perhaps with all the dis-ease, the upturning of our lives, He’s in the process of correcting our vision. Revealing how far we truly are from seeing things accurately: spiritually, emotionally, relationally, mentally, physically.

I know He’s revealed some sand under my feet in this season. Faith I thought built on rock solid principles He’s shifting out from under me. Things I believed about life, parenting, spiritual growth and maturity. So far in 2020, things close to home have shown a deficit in my discernment and understanding when it comes to where I’ve set my faith.

The feeling accompanied by the vision-testing I’ve faced can be summed up with words I first came across on Unsplash. A picture of Scrabble tiles spelling out the message: SHIFT HAPPENS.

These two words have become my mantra for 2020: Shift happens. And when it does, things become very shaky. We experience emotional earthquakes of sorts. Internal upheavals.

It’s not just me. Many in my circle of friends and loved ones have expressed being rocked by what is happening in their worlds. What it means to live out their faith is suddenly gone and has them shifting to see what’s true… what’s not… The feeling echoes in the words of other bloggers too.

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SEEING CLEARLY

Peace, my word for the year — the one God placed on my heart late 2019 for 2020 — made me cringe when it came, because I know what He says about the peace He gives. The peace we learn to live in no matter our circumstances, whether we live empty or overflowing, care-free or pain-full, joy-full or heartbroken. His peace passes understanding. It’s a peace that makes no sense when we view our world with worldly eyes.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:5-7 ESV

Twenty-twenty vision, seeing things clearly according to God, is to trust Him with what’s happening. Bring everything to Him in prayer, which is counter-intuitive to the flesh in which we live. Our physical being has one of two reactions to any kind of upheaval: fight or flight!

Fight is the instinct to fix it! But He’s given us a pandemic which we cannot fix.

Flight is the desire to hide from it! But there is no escape. Nowhere to run.

The truth is God is our only Savior. And reality is found in Jesus.

When we trust God as our Shepherd. Then we begin to see clearly. Accurately.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1

Dare we allow Him to correct our vision? Admit we cannot see?

Or do we keep stumbling in the dark? Trusting our way of seeing, not His?

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16 ESV