If you don’t wear glasses, then you may not fully appreciate this example, but I’ll try to explain it. For a reference point, 20/20 means that you can see objects clearly from 20 feet away; this is normal. My uncorrected vision is between 20/800 and 20/900, which means objects that are clear to most people are as blurry to me as if they were almost three football fields away.

To put yourself in my shoes, it’s kind of like snapping a picture on your smartphone and editing it with the “soften” feature on max. The edges become hazy, details fade away, and even colors can blend together. Lacking clear vision throws everything out of whack.

I can relate to the imagery in verses like 2 Corinthians 5:7 (“We live by believing, not by seeing”), because I know first-hand what it’s like to not be able to see well. There are very few places I will venture without my glasses – namely, from my bedroom to the bathroom at night in the dark, since my glasses wouldn’t help then, anyway. I trust that I know the way, because it’s my home and I’ve lived there for years. During my day-to-day life, though, I rely on my glasses, because I need them to function. Without my sight, I would be severely hindered.

Case in point, I absolutely loathe team-building exercises that require you to close your eyes and fall backward (supposedly into the arms of your peers who will catch you) or do other sensory tricks. I prefer to stand on my own two feet and take in my surroundings with my own two eyes. (And, quite frankly, I don’t trust someone who is 120 lbs soaking wet to be strong enough to break my fall!)

And yet, God asks, “Do you trust me?” I know that he’ll catch me, but knowing it and putting it into action are two different things. How tempting it is to rely on my sight when I ought to rely on God … not my eyesight, but sight in the sense that *I* know better than him. Sometimes God’s vision for us is very clear, but at other times, pursuing him means being willing to take a step of faith, because it forces us to trust his guidance. As 1 Corinthians 13:12 reminds us: “Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face. What I know now is not complete. But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.” Will you trust his vision?