Curing Your Cloudy Vision

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD.” – Psalm 27:13, NIV

One day I was standing at the sink in a public restroom washing my hands, when a woman walked in. She looked confused, then horrified, the moment she saw me. To ease her embarrassment, I tried to lighten things by smiling big and saying, “Ma’am, you’re in the wrong restroom.”

She quickly apologized, turned back around, and grabbed the door to leave. As she was about halfway out, she suddenly looked back at me with a huge smile and said, “No, sir, you’re in the wrong restroom!”

Oh no! Now it was my turn to be embarrassed, and I made a quick exit! Looking at the bold “Women” sign out front, I asked myself, How did I not see that sign? The reality is that people don’t see…what people don’t see. We all have blinds spots and cloudy vision at times.

What You Hear and See

Sometimes people wonder how they can have more faith. What they don’t realize is that faith is a product of our spiritual senses. The Bible says that “faith comes from hearing” (Romans 10:17). The reason is that what we hear changes the focus of what we see.

When you’re hearing negative things, you’ll inevitably see the negative things in your life. Bad news comes from a lot of places, so it might be something your spouse, a neighbor, a person at work, or the nightly news is pointing out. But regardless of the source, it will turn your focus toward everything that’s wrong with the world and with your life.

In the same way, when you hear good things—whether from the people in your life or a positive program on TV or radio—your focus turns toward the good in the world. Your senses pick up positive things you didn’t see before. Your sense of hearing has alerted your sense of vision, causing you to see what was hidden from your view.

Cynics like to accuse optimists of not seeing or being realistic about the negative realities of life. I’m convinced it’s just the opposite—that the positive reality is what’s often blocked from a person’s view. It’s not that people don’t want to see good things. They just can’t see them! Their distorted view of reality loses sight of special moments and great blessings.

The True Source of Goodness

One of the great deceptions of our time is the idea that “goodness” and “good things” exist on their own, without origin, apart from God. Or worse, that goodness somehow originates in human beings. The resulting danger is that all goodness comes to be taken for granted.

The truth is that God is the source of all goodness and good things: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17 NASB). However, when people dissociate good from God, they often fail to see Him as good. Sadly, those same people associate God with all that goes wrong in the world, which further obscures the truth that God is good and all good things come from Him.

When you separate good from God, you remove your awareness of God’s goodness and humankind’s need to thank, honor, revere, and worship Him. The opposite happens when you connect good with God: Your spirits are lifted, your blurry vision clears, and you want to thank, honor, and worship Him!