Human sight is amazing in a lot of ways, particularly in how your sight is designed to prioritize certain areas over others. You have probably never considered that you do not “see” all the image that your eye collects at the same resolution. Consider the difference between what you focus on in great detail and your peripheral vision. There are details in your peripheral vision that get missed. The same can be true in our relationship with the Lord. We miss stuff that we are not focusing on!
I continue to marvel that the religious leaders missed the significance of the demonstration of Jesus’ divinity. “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”” (Matthew 21:15–16 )
The context of the passage is Jesus Triumphal Entry where He was received briefly as the promised Messiah. Jesus was so great a threat to their power that they missed that He was the fulfillment they were supposedly waiting on. They were so stuck on how they thought things should happen that they missed what was unfolding. They would eventually manipulate to get their way and kill Jesus, but missed what God was doing.
Now, I do not want to ignore the spiritual hardening that is revealed here. I want us to ponder their indifference to their front seat view of Jesus’ miraculous works. All because it was not done their way. Jesus once described them as a kid who takes his ball and goes home because he does not get his way. They opposed what God was doing because their focus was on how they believed it should be done.
What stands out to me is how easy it is for me, “to miss God’s working!” Jesus reminded the Jews, and us, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:17b) Consider for a moment that every time another person shows interest in spiritual things, it is a reminder that God is working. God is working in the good and bad that happens in our lives. We need to be careful that we do not become so locked into our schedule, our preferences, our opinions or even our position on issues that we miss what God is doing right in front of our eyes.
The question I ask you, I am asking myself, “Am I missing areas where God is working?” The crazy thing is that like our vision, we have a tendency to miss what we are not focused on.
-Pastor Joe Parkinson