Now You See It - No You Don't

There's a verse in Hebrews that gets me every time.  I know it's two verses after the 'famous' verse, but I like it better than the famous verse. 

Here's what Hebrews 11:3 says:

What we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

The writer is talking about how God formed the universe.  Imagine being there in the moment before anything we now know was created, and God saying "this is what exists in my minds eye: Solar systems, planets, oceans and forests, people and duck-billed platypii."  

And you and I would have said "Huh?"  We couldn't have seen it.  It hadn't been created yet.  We would have had no category.  What we were about to see wasn't going to come from anything we could currently see.

Which is kind of how God always works.  

Which, if true, leads us to a disturbing question: what God had planned for you might well come from nothing you can currently see.

That's only a problem because people of small faith (me - you?) love to walk by sight.  We operate best in the known.  Tomorrow is a lot safer if it looks like a slightly improved version of today.  It seems controllable.  It seems safe.  It's predictable.

What if your trust and my trust started operating on a level that so implicitly submitted to God that if tomorrow completely dis-resembled today, it would be fine?  What if we were so open to God that tomorrow might look radically different than today?  

Often we're willing to settle for a better version of inadequate because our fear keeps us from trusting God for anything better.

What we can see did not come from anything that can be seen. The best stories of faith operate on that principle.  

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Abraham, I'm going to make you into a great nation.   

Yeah, but I'm old and have no kids and my wife is way past the baby years.  Like that's not even possible!

What you will see will not come from anything that can be seen.

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David, you're going to be king.

But there already is a king, and I'm just a boy and I'm the runt of the litter and I'm only a shepherd.

What you will see will not come from anything that can be seen. 

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Peter, come and follow me.

You, rabbi?  But like I fish for a living and I kind of failed out of Hebrew school and if you really are who you say you are I promise you that you've got the wrong guy.

What you will see will not come from anything that can be seen.

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So - what if God is calling you to something that can't be seen right now?  Would you go?  Would you do it?  Would you trust him that much?

What if thousands of people started trusting on that level today?  What would happen to our lives, to the church, to the Kingdom?

Because what we can will see is probably not going to come from anything that can be seen right now. 

Comments

[Joan]

Carey, it was these thoughts that I was trying to express, and believe in as I was saying them, in our small group tonight.

Great follow up for me. Guess we're still into "Signs from Beyond". :-)

I will think more on ...what if God is calling me to something that can't be seen right now...and trust!

[Peter P]

Awesome post Carey.

This is a topic I have blogged about recently and have ben ruminating on!

I think God IS calling all of us to step out blindly - that's what faith is all about!