Psalm 119:18 English Standard Version (ESV) Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

One of the most common things to ask in group bible studies is “What do you see?” The question promotes conversation but what does “seeing” mean?

Matthew 13:15-17 English Standard Version

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

We are brought up to reason with our minds, to see with the natural eyes and believe what we see. When we were given this new heart that Ezekiel spoke of in 36:26 there became an ability to understand with the heart. We struggle with understanding that concept because we are taught first to perceive with the eye and understand with our minds. Being born again, awakened to this spiritual life, we have to learn how to understand with our new heart and that is a new thing.

Does the Word of God speak to our inner being?

Romans 7:22 English Standard Version (ESV) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,

2 Corinthians 4:16 English Standard Version (ESV) So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Ephesians 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV) that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Colossians 1:29 English Standard Version (ESV) For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Have you ever driven a vehicle that has so much power that you felt like you had lost control? You are behind the wheel but you struggle with just how much accelerator you are comfortable pressing? Just a little too much and the exhilaration of power turns fearful.

We often try to relate human experiences in understanding scripture. While it is a best fit for the writer iy might not be the right expression for the reader. Writers struggle with trying to find the right expression of experience we have in the spirit which abides in all of us.

Paul’s expression of the Lord’s energy inside him reminds me of being behind the wheel of something really powerful. In the spirit I want to lose control to the Lord yet at the same time it is losing control. While I trust the Lord part of me will always feel a little uncomfortable losing control.

Looking at the things that Paul did and what God had done with him, I admire his ability to put “the pedal to the metal” spiritually and still admit there was a lot more power (energy) available that he did not release.

In truth walking by faith is similar because we must trust in the Lord to step out in faith without knowing how things will work out. We all have limits which might be physical and real or emotional and limiting us from being all we can be in Christ.

Christ knows that and loves us so much that he would never ask us to do anything we were not able to do either physically or emotionally.

Part of maturing in Christ will come when we feel comfortable enough to press a little harder on the gas petal. What that looks like for each of us depends on what we are called to do in Christ.