Living in a House of Mirrors
As kids, we loved the local carnival. It came to town once a year in July and it
was a true highlight in our lives. It had all the classic rides and attractions including a house of mirrors. I remember the house of mirrors because one day I decided to harass my cousin Wade by pretending to attack him when he, my other cousin Tom, and I were the only ones in the place.
In case you’ve never been in one of these, you walk through a maze and are surrounded by mirrors each step of the way. Some are normal mirror images and other are distorted. But because you are looking at yourself and others all around you, it’s easy to get disoriented. You typically see dozens of images of the others in the maze as well as yourself. Tom and I took advantage of this by sneaking up on Wade and pushing him, then scooting around corners, etc. Of course he’d see us coming, but it wasn’t always easy to tell what was truly us, and what was just a reflection.
Finally, he’d had enough. As I approached, he lunged at me—or so he thought. Actually, he lunged at a mirror and face planted against the glass. His nose started bleeding and he had to stumble out of the room. I’ve never let him forget that moment….
A Common Human Problem
I think some people live their whole lives in a house of mirrors. When they look around, they see hundreds of distorted images of themselves and others. Everyone seems to be mocking or attacking them and when they respond, they bloody their noses...or worse!
But God has a solution to this.
Psalm 119:18 contains this solution in a simple prayer. The Psalmist writes, "Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from your law." There's actually a lot of truth packed into this little prayer:
1. It assumes we can't see. If we could see clearly, we wouldn't need to pray. We often ASSUME we see everything clearly and truthfully, but our perspective is always biased by our own experience, personality, hangups, etc. We should ask...and assume that we DON'T see everything "as it really is."
2. The Psalmist assumes the best. He's expecting "Wondrous things." He doesn't view the world through a "glass half empty" mentality. He's in sync with Philippians 4:8-9 which tells us to focus our minds on the positive.
3. God's Word, the Bible, summarized here as his "law," is the source of clear sight. It's the lens through which we should view the world around us. One of the reasons we stumble around banging into walls is that we refuse to put on our spiritual glasses and see through the revelation God has provided. We should never make a decision without first consulting scripture on that topic.
So question your sight! Ask God to help you see from His perspective. Acknowledge the need and use His Word to clarify your vision. I know you'll be blessed in the process!
To that end,
Pastor Joel
