Keep the Vision

⁹ Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

What is the most amazing thing you have ever seen?  The Grand Canyon?  The Rockies?  The sun setting on the Pacific?  The world we live in is full of amazing and wonderful sights to see; both small and large.  The children of Israel saw something even greater and were no doubt astonished.  They witness the waters of the Red Sea part as they walked to other side.  One would think that after seeing something so great and astonishing they would never have cause to doubt God again.  One would think…..

It is hard to imagine the scope of human emotion that must have been experienced by the children of Israel whilst they watched as the waters of the Red Sea came tumbling down atop their captors.  A miraculous liberation, glorious freedom; literally watching the torments of your past being carried away by a flood.  We who are born and raised in a free country might find it hard to imagine enslavement; can you imagine what it must have felt like to know that in a moment you are now free?  All your life, all you have known was enslavement.  You were worked without mercy, whipped without cause, they could come in at any moment and take your: house, wife, daughter, land, whatever; no hope, no freedom.  In comes this man, this outsider, this Moses, claiming to be the voice of God.  Is he truly?  His boldness and outlandish statements only make it harder for your and yours; harder to survive, harder to believe.  Until, God shows His hand, God rules in the kingdoms of men.  This Moses is for real, and you believe once more, you hope once again, you follow him to the banks of the sea the waters part and you cross to the other side.  God delivers as only he can; behind you the waters of the Red Sea return to their normal state, engulfing the past in the process.  Before you lays the promise of tomorrow, of a land long since promised to be yours; a land of abundance, a land of hope, a land for the free, a land called Canaan.  It is hard to imagine how this must have felt, then again, perhaps it is not so hard at all.

If you ever were once in sin and now know the delivering power of God.  You can relate.  You can imagine, you can understand to some degree what it is like to be without hope, without comfort, without freedom; and you know how God can deliver.  However, we must take heed to the same exhortation that was given to them long ago.  Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently.  Yes the deliverance was great, yes it was a wonderful experience beyond compare or comprehension, but do not think for a second that one experience with God is enough to last a lifetime.  You will forget, we all will unless we keep our souls diligently.  But how do we keep our souls?

When you came to God you encountered for the first time Jesus Christ; mine eyes have seen thy salvation.  You saw (with your spiritual eyes) the love, the peace, the joy, the hope, you saw it and obtained it.  Since that time the devil has, no doubt, been busy trying to get you to look at ANYTHING else.  He wants you to take your eyes off Jesus and turn to something else.  Look at your circumstances, look at how little you have and how much your neighbor has.  Look at how alone you are and how happy they are.  Look at how much fun you could be having if you were not a Christian.  Look here, look there, look at this person or that person, they say they are following God but they do this thing and that thing.  They gossip, they steal, they lie, and they backbite, LOOK! 

Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently.  Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  If we press toward that mark: through reading, through praying, through church-going, through evangelizing, through helping those in need, through any and all virtuous callings the Spirit may impress upon our lives, if we look to Jesus and keep ever in our vision the vision of Him; we will never forget the things which our eyes have seen.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”  At all cost, remain ever diligent and keep the vision.