How Am I Looking?

Have you ever considered that what we see depends on how we look? I’m not talking about what we see in the mirror, but how we receive from scripture and our interactions within our environment. I remember once listening to a John Paul Jackson message and he said after a teaching someone came up and said, “What bible are you using?” John told him it was the NKJV version and the fellow responded something like, “I didn’t mean that. I read the same bible as you but don’t see the things you see.”

Let me give you an example. What was the first instance of food being multiplied in scripture? Did you think of Jesus and the loaves and fishes? Would it surprise you to learn it happened in Elisha’s ministry?

⁴²  Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.” ⁴³  But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” He said again, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the LORD: ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ “ ⁴⁴  So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD. 2 Kings 4:42-44 (NKJV)

This is the first example I see in scripture of food being multiplied. My point is not how clever I am in finding this. I have read it more than a few times but never made this connection. When reading it this summer the light went on. Why didn’t I see it before? I didn’t expect to find it here because I knew it only happened in Jesus ministry.

Our expectations tend to set the level of our faith. Look at scripture.

¹  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

A primary function of faith is bringing reality to things we are hoping for, making them substantive. I am not speaking of some magical process. True faith is tied to expectant hope that is settled and established in our hearts. So, might it be prudent to ask the Holy Spirit to remove the veils from our hearts and minds that keep us from seeing from His perspective?

How are you looking?