Learning to see the unseen. This was the teaching on Sunday evening, fifth meeting of our outreach. The first verse of Psalm 23 was proclaimed in the cut-out letters above the lectern: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. This is both a confession and a promise, if we accept it for ourselves. It was a proclamation of David and it can be our proclamation if we wish. Or, it can just be a nice poem. If we accept it as our confession, our proclamation, and believe it, it will become true in the physical world. The proclamation has two parts, both statement of fact, or statement of faith depending on whether you really believe it or not.
If statement of faith, then we are not sure it’s really true, are hoping it’s true. If we know it to be a fact (know God, as Hosea 4:6 says) then we live, walk, talk as though it really is true. The first thing I notice is that many Christians make this confession, but I also hear from the same mouth "I really need . . ." On the one hand the confession of no need, on the other a confession of great need. Which one is true? This indicates that the ‘believer’ does not really believe. You can believe you have money in the bank, but until you use your ATM it is just as good as not there at all. So it is with the promises of God. We need to access the account and withdraw the money (promise) or it is as good as not there at all.
So how do we do that? It involves first a decision then action (John 15:10; James 1:22; and in this case specifically Phil 2:14 and 4:4-6). First the decision: to act as though we believe even if we have doubt, then the action that carries through on the decision. During the four years I prayed for people not seeing any result did I have doubts? For sure, but I decided to believe God’s Word more than I believe my experience. I believed that nothing is impossible for God, and that what the Word says, the Word means, and that Jesus (the Word - John 1:1-14) is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8- notice this refers to something spoken). I continued to act as though I saw results even though I saw no results. In the end my experience was changed to match God’s Word. So often we change our understanding of God’s word to match our experience, and loose because we do not believe the promises, and not believing, do not receive.
Verse 2 of the Psalm created a big question in my mind when I pondered it. Why does the shepherd have to make me lie down in green pastures? A sheep should willing lie down in green pastures! Several answers crop up immediately: the young sheep is too energetic and active to want to take the needed rest (kindergarten teachers and moms of young kids know this all too well); ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence,’ meaning we are too busy idolizing or jealous over what someone else has that we fail to see what we have; and another, more difficult one is that we simply do not know what green grass is when we see it. Well, certainly, ‘green grass’ in the form of worldly ‘blessings’ is usually easily recognized, but we are talking about seeing things that cannot be seen, that is, seeing with spiritual eyes rather than physical.
In Luke 4:1 the Spirit of God leads Jesus into the wilderness where after 40 days with no food he is tempted by the devil. Common sense, doctors, and experience tell us that forty days without food leaves us hungry and weak. The Bible concurs that it left Jesus hungry: that is why the temptation to turn stones into bread was a real temptation. But in verse 14 it says that Jesus returned from the desert in the power of the Holy Spirit and his fame spread throughout the region. He never did miracles, was not famous before this. This means he returned from the desert experience stronger than when he entered. Evidently there was ‘green grass’ which strengthened this Lamb of God in the desert which we cannot see except with spiritual eyes.
We begin to get some insight into this from John 2:34 where Jesus says his food is to do the will of his Father in heaven. The first 40 day fast I did - total abstention from solid food day and night - I was still working. During the third week of the fast I had a sea trial (several days at sea testing the equipment and systems on the ship), and came back and went straight to the tennis courts from the ship to participate in a Shipyard tennis tournament.. I played 3 sets and was as strong as I ever was on the tennis court (I don’t even remember if I won any of the sets, and for sure I didn’t win the tournament, but not because I was weak)! It really is true, that if we do the will of our Father, there is sustenance which becomes manifest in the world, that is in our physical bodies. If we believe, trust and obey, the promises of the Bible become physical reality in our lives.
I had an experience once in which I learned the lesson "If you were doing the things you should be doing, you would not be feeling down right now" when I complained to God about something I thought I was lacking. Years later, on a bus from Macassar to Toraja (8 hours - island of Sulawesi, Indonesia) the air conditioning on the bus did not work, no windows could be opened, and it was a hot equatorial desert day. The bus was like an oven, and the stench of body odor (most Indonesians haven’t discovered deodorant, eat lots of garlic and other aromatic foods) and vomit (it was that hot, some were quite ill). I remembered the lesson as I neared meltdown in the heat. I began to really see the other passengers, their discomfort, fear, and hopelessness. I began to pray for each one, my heart going out to them. It was painful in a different way. After awhile I noticed that I no longer felt the heat, but was physically quite comfortable. Seeing the spiritual situation and obeying God’s voice changes our experience in the world. I also believe that the prayers also comforted and changed the experience of the other passengers, totally changing the results of the physical situation we shared.
Point being: if we believe Psalm 23:2a is real for our lives, and it is 100% of the time, not just sometimes, then wherever we are, we are in green grass. If we don’t see it, it’s only because we are not recognizing it for what it is.
For time’s sake we jump to verse 5:a about the Lord preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies. It was communion Sunday and talk about the Lord’s table seemed most appropriate. Frst, notice the location of the table. If we allow a picture to be formed in our minds, we see our enemies coming for us. Of course they are giants: more, bigger, and stronger than we. Then the King (we might more likely imagine the President) comes rolling up, unloads a huge feast and prepares it before us in the presence of those enemies coming to attack. The King sits and invites to come sit with him and enjoy the feast. Can you picture it? The table is between my enemies and me!
Now, the President (and the King) never travel alone, but with a large retinue, including bodyguards. We have two choices for our attention: the enemy who would love to continue the attack, or the King, who would love us to leave our fear and sit and enjoy his feast.
If we choose to lose focus on the King, but focus on the enemy, fear will continue to grip us, and we will respond in fear. It doesn’t take a psychologist or theologian to tell us that wild animals and enemies can smell fear, and they attack with renewed vigor! Not a good result, I am afraid.
If we choose to sit and dine with the King, we enjoy the protection of his bodyguards and his power, and our enemies have two choices: slink away in fear and silence, or join us at the Table. Of course the King would prefer that they join us at the table! Don’t lose sight of this, it will help with another part of this heavenly view, and that is embracing enemies as friends, but don’t let’s jump to that, it might be too big a step right now!
So, can you see the table? I guarantee it is really there, just as David spoke or wrote what he saw in the spirit. Having the communion table before them helped this congregation start to be able to see the spiritual table. They began to say what things are on that table. First, they recognized the bread and wine, that is body an blood of Jesus. Some realized that there is more that one kind of wine (Eph 5:18), some saw the milk and honey. Some see the meat Jesus mentioned in John 4:34. Some see candles (light, romance - of course there is romance- Jesus is the groom, I am the bride!), and on and on. This is how we begin to see the things that cannot be seen. If we can see them, we can have them. If we won’t see them, we won’t have them.
I guarantee that this is not just a psychological exercise, but the Table of the Lord, before me in the presence of my enemies, is very real. I have more than once needed its sustenance in times of trial, and I have never been disappointed!
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