"The Far Side"

"Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness." (Psalms 119:123)

  Talk about being spent, this verse is dealing with the reality of not only waiting on God to do whatever it is that we might expect of Him, but what it actually means to put all of our trust in the word of God. There are some, maybe most, that will look at this getting a negative expectation, as if David is beginning to feel like giving up on seeing God's fulfillment to his salvation. Do not let that kind of negativity slither into your mind; because this is about hope and expectation; this is about doing something that the Lord Jesus Christ tried over and over to get His disciples to understand; which they did finally get, but not without the Holy Spirit being breathed into their lives. This is about taking our eyes off the way things appear, and forgetting about ourselves, and putting all of our focus upon God's Word and His righteousness! I think the writer of Hebrews said it best; whom, just in case you were curious, I believe it was written by three men, Paul, Luke, and Mark. I believe that all three contributed to the writing, as they conversed together and shared about the awesome work and plan of God, for not only the salvation of the Jews, but the entirety of humanity. These were three very distinct individuals: Paul, the one that was known as Saul; Mark, the one who gave up everything to follow Jesus; and Luke, the Gentile Gospel Writer. Enough with my theory, because the point that matters is what was said! Chapter 11 starts off in verse one by saying, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And making a powerful proclamation in verse 13, by saying, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." This is the point I believe David is trying to make! We all have this same set of circumstances when it comes to grabbing hold of what God has promised us; it is always out of reach! Just when you think you have arrived, you find it is not there yet; but it is still afar off and waiting to be fulfilled. It is not only real, but its reality is much more real than everything we see that is around us. As a matter of fact, our eyes deceive us, because the things appear to be one thing, yet they are entirely different. A really good example of that, is what I thought was gong on the morning all the trees were breaking from the snow. I literally thought that there was gunfire and some sort of battle taking place down below from my property. And to make matters worse, along with what I thought was gunshot, I kept seeing flashlights pointing into the early morning sky. Man, was I ever off on that first impression! There is really only One thing that is best to focus on...

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin." (Hebrews 12:1-4) NLT