Separation Anxiety from the Seer



A friend  blessed me by saying  I was good at "seeing" people. I do desire to really be that kind of person.  I try to be still and see and know.  I fall short so many times. Why is that?  Why don't we see each other well?  Why don't we see God clearly?

Metacognitively speaking, we are shaped by poor thinking.  What about the way we see God?  I awoke last night thinking of Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are the standard messages about the fall of man, but mostly, I think our seeing has been shaped because of the lies that we have believed.

Satan twisted God's words that we were being held out on by God.  Eve inferred that God was somehow selfish and not wanting to share His wisdom.  He implied that Eve was misled in thinking that God and her relationship were not as intimate as she had perceived. He planted in her a desire to know that which spiritually she hadn't cared to know before. 

It didn't sound like it was the first time she saw that tree. And she clearly refuted Satan at first, alluding to her direct communication with God by stating what His plans were for her and the tree.  She saw God's vision.   In pity from Satan's twisted implications, she may have inferred that she wasn't fulfilled enough, good enough, smart enough, trustworthy enough.  She wanted more, to know and be known. 

Satan even hinted that she could be more like God.  God and her would be closer, more aligned in thinking and seeing.  Satan twisted her desire for knowing good by making her lack in seeing her own disobedience.  The end certainly didn't justify the means. She saw herself differently through Satan's eyes. He implied that doing and knowing all things were gainful callings, that the sky was the limit, that her knowing was illimitable. 

Satan even assured her that she wouldn't die. He assured her that she would be like God.  Wow, what a trick.  First, he implied that God was controlling and holding out, and then he told her that she would be more like Him.  Who would want to be more like that kind of person? Why wouldn't she see his deviousness?  If she was confused, Satan cleared it up by guaranteeing her eyes would be opened.  "Ah---"Eve was probably saying.  I will then understand my confusion. The trust she once knew in God was severed by Satan's implications.

Verse 6 presented the thought that my mind kept circling around.  Now she saw the tree differently.  She saw the tree that she had walked passed many times before differently.  It says she saw the tree was now pleasing to the eye and desirable.  Here was where the separation anxiety began. Had she not thought that before?  Suddenly, she no longer saw spiritually.   She only saw the physical.  Her desire came throught her eyes.  She desired with her eyes all the while her spiritual eyes, the eyes of her heart, were closed.    It seems slightly ironic that we say "keep your eyes wide open" when we want people to analytically survey a situation well and beware. Heeding this warning is considered wisdom. But this earthly wisdom Satan presents is a wisdom of learned fear. Her spiritual eyes were severed from her emotional and physical seeing.

God  comes even closer now to call us out of hiding and blindness and shame  than during His wandering through the Garden to call on Eve.  His wisdom is found through a different tree now.  It is found in seeing  and knowing and asking for our relationship with the One who took the tree upon Himself not to be hidden.  He lives and guards our hearts from within.   His wisdom isn't the lie of fear as Satan's was.  As the cataracts of earthly wisdom are cut away, we begin to see others, even if it begins more like shadows, glimpses, or rare sightings.

Those people that really see others seem to have an extraordinary wisdom. Any true earthly wisdom and seeing is gleaned through our spiritual eyes. We are limited in our ability to see one another or God clearly without the full prescription of seeing: spiritual, emotional, and physical.

A spiritual connection of complete intimacy with God and His creation allows us to see others not as lacking or naked or evil but as God intended.  In my own life, the only way I see people and situations well is if I see them with God's eyes.  Hiding from the Seer in me causes separation anxiety.   

Comments

Anonymous said…
Reminds me too of Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6)

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Anonymous said…
There seems to be a confirmation here for those that might need one, that in this event called"LIFE" there are positive and negative forces in play at all times. we, individually choose which approach we will take!! One should always question why they would choose the negative!!!

wisdom from THE PHILOSOPHER
Ric said…
Another nice job.