The Eyes Have It

The Eyes Have It

6/30/18

All of us know that our vision is one of the most important senses that humans are blessed with and that if our eyesight is not adequately accurate enough then we need it to be corrected.  How many walls or stop signs do we have to run into before we go to the doctor to get the issue fixed?  What will our eyes be focused upon when an accident occurs and someone may become injured due to our tardiness?  We have the perfect system in place to direct us to the right physician for us to get corrective lenses but how long must we wait in order for us to complete this process?  A simple nursery rhyme gives us the prime example of doing things on our own instead of looking to the correct person to fix the issues and until we look towards the eternal King for our direction these wrecks of the world shall sadly, continue.

It has always been told that the human eye is the window to our souls and that a person who looks into another’s eye can tell a lot about what is going on inside that person.  It is amazing but this statement is true and no matter if the person denies their true inner state an attentive person will know the truth concerning such person.  It is difficult to explain how such mechanism works but when one realizes what the eyes portray it is a unique phenomenon that cannot be denied.  Even police officers shine a flashlight in a person’s eyes in order to see how their pupils react or if they react at all, all of which are accountable to what substances have been placed into their systems.

However, we cannot ignore or forget the other side of the eyes and that is how humans use them in order to accomplish their daily routines.  We would like to believe that each step of our day will turn up nothing but roses with the sweet smell of the accompanying smells that those roses produce.  Too often our day starts our great but by the time we finish our morning routines the day has already taken a turn and we find ourselves struggling to correct an error that has crossed our path.  The question lies within our hearts as to how to handle this new bump in the road of ours and whether or not we know who to call upon to get the problem corrected in a timely manner.  How often do we try and work things out on our own instead of spending a little bit more on someone who is properly trained in that field, for you see if we spend time trying to correct things on our own when we do not know exactly what to do then it could cost us much more in the long run.  I have been guilty of this for such a long time and it took years and thousands of dollars later for me to not play with problems I do not know how to adequately fix and just call the professionals first.

1 Samuel Chapter 8 has been one of the more common passages that God has used in these articles of His while communicating His wisdom and choice over our lives and to spread the His Word into our hearts.  Once again He directs us to this passage in order for us to understand how our eyes must stay fixed on Him in order for us not only to live during the times of pleasure and blessings but also how to thrive when times become hard and troubled.  This passage also gives us the perfect example of how humans act when their eyes are not on God and what occurs to these same people in these same aforementioned conditions.  It is so frustrating to me when I study human actions and realize that they have no concerns for God just because of how they react to the conditions that they are faced with, but as soon as I do, I am quickly reminded that many times I act the same way as these people in 1 Samuel 8 did.

It must have been excruciatingly painful for Samuel to hear the cries from his people that they wanted to have an earthly king and to abandon the covering and protection of God.  Adam and Eve and the conditions that they were forced to leave from must have at some point crossed Samuel’s mind while the people were stating their demands.  God did not punish them for their choices and even though He understood that their hearts had strayed from His Ways instead God allowed this action of the people to take place.  It is this aspect of our hearts that can be reflected in our eyes and it will also serve as the basis for where our eyes will turn towards when things are going bad as well.  God made it very clear to Samuel that the people were not turning away from Samuel’s leadership but from God Himself.  When our eyes are not focused on the King our ways automatically wayward and therefore shuffled against the path that was initially created and established for our lives.

The pains and trials that Israel faced after this dreadful decision of theirs are almost incomprehensible to think about yet through all of this, many of them failed to return to God and to reestablish their connective and eternal Covenant with Him.  The ultimate consequence eventually occurred in their existence when their lives were uprooted by a foreign power and then subsequently driven from their land into another life of slavery and captivity.  As they walked from their destroyed land they gazed upon their holy temple which was completely annihilated by the victorious army while at the same time noticing that many of their elite and popular leaders and their families were outright missing from the people’s train to their new “home”.  Even with all of this devastation and destruction around them, and their new living quarters in a captive and unfamiliar land, they refused to return to God and chose to lock their eyes on the new world that was before them, one that offered a cosmopolitan setting with new freedoms that never had before been thought about. 

The dreadful defeat was quickly forgotten and the people established a new life for themselves including a new marriage vow between another race; this project too became an ugly issue in the future of the Jews, one that Jesus bridged when He walked the earth.  The disciples had their eyes on the physical implications of such racial tensions instead of the eternal King and what He provided for all mankind, a focus that we are seeing unfold each day in this nation and in each society around the world today.  Not much has changed from the ancient times until now, which means that if we continue to follow in step with our past then God shall have to comply and follow in His steps as well.  If one wishes to see what occurs to our lives when we voluntarily disobey God and His Ways then all one has to do is read God’s Word because it is filled with those who believed they knew better than God and saw their lives through their own eyes instead of looking in the direction of God.

We have here the perfect example of how a nation’s people have totally switched their thinking and ideology away from their Creator.  There are absolutely no bones about the fact the children of Israel have made up their minds that God’s Way is not for them and that they no longer wish to be subjected to His eternal authority, neither in their hearts or covering them.  Samuel cannot help but take things personally, seeing himself as a failure to continue the track record of the people of Israel, but at the same time, God reminds Samuel that it is He who the people have rejected, not Samuel.  This is a detail that we must remember for it is one that we are facing today as well, a rejection of God on the highest level and one that shall have grave consequences if we do not turn our hearts back to Him.

When God said to Samuel that the people had rejected Him, the level of importance was raised to the highest level possible for they had already ignored the prophet’s words that had come from God in the first place.  The judges of the land were in the same boat for they were taking bribes, tormenting and sleeping with the young girls of the Temple, and performing countless other trades that were abominations before God all to which they had no concerns about their actions in any manner.  The level of belief had totally switched in that the taste of worldly acceptance and equality with other nations around them had blossomed into a national pride.  Their eyes of the Israelites had been shifted from God and His Ways to the ways of the world and the immediate effects of such a move eventually were presented to Samuel as a total withdrawal from God, His presence, and His Covenant over them.  This was a choice that God warned them about yet loved them so much that He allowed them to follow what was in the sights of their eyes.

As we have discussed previously, it did not take too long before Israel began to witness behaviors that proved to be detrimental to their security and everyday lifestyles, yet instead of figuring out that their issues were because of their separation from God they attributed them to being new to the scene and ventured on the path that they had chosen.  Their issues continued to grow and eventually, their status began to decline with impending doom lurking around the next corner of their path.  God understands this pattern of choice and when He sees what is coming He warns people so that they will have plenty of time to change their hearts, but in the case of the Israelites and in today’s world the choice of path that the people’s eyes take are according to the world and not of God.  Clearly, the eyes of the Israelites in 1 Samuel Chapter 8 were on the world and not God so they could not have chosen any other path than the one that unfolded in front of their hearts.

When I was a child, my mother read to me a bunch and when she did she read to me different kinds of stories that she believed would fancy my ears.  One of those stories that she read to me was the old nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” and I am sure that many of you reading this article was exposed to this great short rhyme.  While many of us when we were hearing this nursery rhyme probably had no idea of the meaning behind such a story, but it is one that we as Christians need to understand and HEED to at all times for if we do not follow the true example of this great story we will fall into the same trap the king’s men did.

The words to this simple and short rhyme are as follows:

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again”

There are other short verses to such a great saying but it is this main verse that we need to understand and reflect on its content for it is the one that relates to our lives both personally and as a nation.  Come on, really?  A nursery rhyme has that much to say about how our lives are today AND how it also describes the condition of the eyes and heart of Israel as well?  Read the words to that rhyme again as we take a closer look together for it seems that Humpty is sitting on a wall which means that no matter how high that wall is Humpty has the potential to fall from it and thus harm himself.  We all know what occurs when we place ourselves on pedestals and just sit there and revel in the glory as such pedestal brings.  Now, did the nation of Israel have such a concept about themselves when 1 Samuel 8 rolls around, and dose this society and every other society in today’s world look at themselves in the same manner?  A resounding “YES” is the only answer to both of those questions.  Humpty was in control of his situation and he sat himself there on the wall and since there is no indication that Humpty was upset in any way, he was not forced up on the wall and thus did so voluntarily.

The second portion of the quatrain reads that Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  Wow! What a difference in settings that a line makes, eh.  Now, we have Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall that he was on and is in bad shape.  Something occurred and HD fell off the wall and when he did so he had to hit the ground sooner or later.  Tragic as it must seem it is always not a good outcome when anything that falls from an elevated position finally hits the end of the fall and in this case, it is the ground.  How many times have we heard of people, groups, and nations fall after some kind of conflict occurs?  This type of aftermath has happened countless times throughout human history and unless we change our ways it shall occur many more times, which will include this nation at some point in our near future.

The third line of this rhyme gives us a picture of how societies have reacted to disasters both in the past and in our current historical line.  All the king’s horses and all the kings men states that everyone had heard about what happened to HD and they all rushed over to aid in his condition.  While all of these mechanisms and wishes were of a noble gesture it is recognized that the number of people and equipment were ready and able to proceed with the recovery effort but what do we really see here and what is really occurring?  The supplies and demand were available and had arrived for what seems like in an adequate time, but even if the necessary supplies are present there is still something amiss as the fourth line of this nursery rhyme arrives. 

The tragedy here lies in the fact that all of the men were present and ready to help but had no real person present that understood what needed to be done.  It looks like that while all involved were frantically working to put HD back together that they couldn’t for whatever reason.  The important aspect here concerns the men and how they responded to what happened with HD, yes they acted nobly and willingly to try and help HD but they could not, they tried in vain to save HD which gives us the picture of many people trying to fix another person by doing their own way and in their own manner.  Their manner was through their own eyes and how they perceived things and treatment should be done, not once did they look towards their king to find out the real answers in how to fix HD.  It is this point that God wants us to understand and how we should be seeking His advice and guidance in order to fix our issues both now and when they arrive in the future.

Of course, as a kid, I would have never figured out this truth concerning this excellent example and to be honest it was not until I heard an old 1980s Christian song that God spoke to me about this article after showing me the message contained inside the lines.  If our eyes are not fixed upon the King of everything to help us we will not have any chance of saving our existence.  There is no question that many people have great motives and wonderful drives to fix the issues that humans have but unless we turn our eyes back to God and once again begin to hear His voice for our instructions we will be sunk.  Human answers are at best a temporary fix for they cannot go deep enough in order to root out the problems that plague us all.  God is the One being that created us and He is the ONLY One that can fix the issues that we face today.

Sadly, the children of Israel missed this truth and in the end, it cost them everything that they had even their nation as it existed in ancient times.  Israel was meant to stay pure and isolated from all other nations, setting the tone and example for every other nation that was in form, but instead their eyes became focused on the world and it was at that moment that they became subject to the breaches of Covenant.  Just as in our creation, God was the Creator of Covenant between Him and Israel, God has never violated that Covenant but Israel was in constant violation which cost them their nation.  Today, we are facing the same set of circumstances that Israel faced so long ago.  This nation was Created and then set apart to be an example to the world and to hold up the name of her Creator, yet we too have placed our focal points of our eyes onto the world and are now in the same dire straits that Israel faced.  While Israel cannot fix what occurred to them in their past they have the choice to turn their eyes back to God and God gives us the exact same opportunity in this nation to do the same.

God has no desire to allow any hedge to be breached over our lives but we have chosen to create such a breach and thus live with the consequences of such flow.  All of our issues that we believe we can solve alone shall only become overwhelming in magnitude to our eyes no matter if they look small today.  We can never forget that if we do not have God first in our lives at all times then we are recreating the Humpty Dumpty story all over again and at some point, we shall fall off of the wall we are sitting on.  Our self pride also will cause us to have a great deal of equipment, personnel, and supplies present but none of it shall do any good if our eyes are on human standards and fixers.  It shall not matter how hard those people with great intentions try, they shall fail and Humpty Dumpty (USA) shall die as a nation and therefore lose such status as God’s chosen nation to help all those who desire to be separated with God.

The nation of Israel was repeatedly warned against such devastation if they did not repent and turn their eyes and heart back to God.  Specifics were given to the people from God’s prophets concerning such devastation, even down to how long they would be in captivity was made known to their ears and hearts.  The people of Israel accepted such messages but toned them down and watered the statements down to fit their own reckonings, a devastatingly and deadly game that they played with and lost at terribly.  We too seek to hear the warnings but do nothing to heed the messages and blow off their meanings as some hypothetical scenario that has no sign of occurring.  While this is a foolish notion to believe, it is present because it defines exactly where our eyes and heart look towards.  Western societies have no issue concerning God nor do they want any issue with Him for we have become comfortable in our own muck and mire.  We still have time to change this course of ours before we become a desolate watered down landscape.  God changed the shape and landscape of Israel due to their foolish sins and He shall do the exact same thing to us if we do not change our eye directions and focus now.

As each week passes, we read or hear about some other tragedy that has occurred in this nation then for the next several weeks afterward we hear arguments between people and what they believe the problem is and what originates from the latest failure.  There can be no more perfect example of Humpty Dumpty that we can witness unfolding when these settings occur, for if you change the channels and watch another news organization talk about what happened you will get another take on the event.  You can do this for as many newsrooms as there are channels and none of them shall address the true issue about our eyes not being on the King and looking for His direction and guidance, it is all about which human belief and thought process is correct.  We are so lost and so blinded by our own selfish lies that we cannot see where we are headed and we allow so much noise into our heads that we could not hear God if we were listening.  We have got to change this pattern and we need to change it now.

Church, we have fallen into the same trap as the judges that were mentioned in 1 Samuel 8, and if we do not change our lives and ways now the same results shall occur to this nation as it did to Israel.  The cries of secularism and all of the other isms that can be imagined have begun to ring out and we cannot afford to be the bell ringers of such message.  If we do not adhere to the Word of God and show the world how to live underneath Covenant this nation and the status of the world shall fall like never before.  What is coming to this nation will make every dire situation that this nation has ever faced – combined – look like a drop in a 1.2 million gallon bucket.  We still have an opportunity to change our ways before God must grab our attention but we must lay down our connections with the world and focus our eyes back on God’s face.  God is calling for us to repent and the time to repent is now.  Repenting means that we get off the wall we are on and once again begin to walk and talk in the manner in which we were Created to be.

DLB