Bright Eyes and Fear

… [H]aving the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might … -- Ephesians 1:18-19

God is omnipotent.  That sounds impressive.  We may hear that and think, “Well, sure, He’s God.”  So I have a question, if you and I were also omnipotent, is there anything that would scare us?  God hates sin, but it’s not as though it is unholy kryptonite. He's not afraid of anything.

And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.  (Genesis 3:10)

Fear is the consequence of sin.  Sometimes fear can cause us to do something foolish or sinful, but fear is already in residence in our old sin nature.  Now, there are people who appear to be naturally unafraid, but their boldness is usually limited.  My uncle was absolutely unafraid of heights, but he was terrified by needles.  I was friends with a guy who would literally pass out at the sight of his own blood.  He was working up on a stepladder doing some wiring, nicked his finger and would probably have split his skull if another friend hadn’t caught him as he fell off the ladder.  My nephew will fight a circle-saw but panics if he gets in more than four feet of water. 

My father and Uncle Joe – Joe was married to one of Mom’s sisters – were out on the river in Joe’s old wooden jon boat when a thunderstorm blew up.  Uncle Joe was checking and resetting some limb lines.  Lightning started popping pretty close, and Dad suggested that it might be a good idea to get off the water.  “Oh,” Joe said, “don’t worry about a little rain.  Neither one of us’ll melt.”  About that time, the flash and the boom hit together.  Joe was standing up in the boat slowly and patiently working on a line.  “That one was pretty close,” he observed, no more concerned than if a swallow had swooped by.  

Yet even that magnificent old Rough Rider who had charged Spanish guns in Cuba, laughed at the Huns’ artillery in the Argonne, and routinely ran into burning buildings was afraid of growing old and weak and of being alone. 

When I think of enlightenment, I think of Jonathan back in 1 Samuel 14 as he pursued the Philistines.  The Israelites with Jonathan passed through a wooded area that was literally dripping with honey.  Jonathan was hungry and ate, for he had been busy fighting and had not heard his father’s rash vow placed on the people:  that no one was to taste food until the utter defeat of the Philistines was accomplished.  The honey Jonathan ate made “his eyes become bright” – or enlightened his eyes.

Jonathan saw what Saul could not see, that eating of the readily-available honey would have enabled a greater defeat of the enemy than abstaining.  As honey brightened the eyes of Jonathan, renewed his strength and refreshed his spirit, so the Word of God brings us enlightenment, brightening the “eyes of [our] hearts”.  We will see past our fears.  We will see that of which we have only heard rumors.  We will be eyewitnesses of the matchless grandeur and reality of God’s mighty power. 

Biblical enlightenment is not a mere intellectual insight – not that such is without value, but true spiritual enlightenment gives us courage and hope.  It allows us to see beyond the present darkness of circumstances to the Source of all light and life and liberty.  We see that it is not our doing or our power, but the greatness of God’s power that is working in us and through us and for us.