[New Post] Fresh "Gaze" for Body and Soul

The people who walk in darkness
    will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
    a light will shine.
Isaiah 9:2 NLT

I’ve gone through cataract surgeries during the past two months. According to the “AI Overview”…

Cataract surgery is a common, quick outpatient procedure to replace a cloudy natural eye lens with a clear artificial one (IOL), improving vision often lost to cataracts.

And it is my observation that cataract removal is like childbirth. A person totally forgets the discomfort of the process (in this case— the surgeries, restrictions, the shielding of the eye, and the multiple medical drops for weeks and weeks) for the joy of seeing clearly for perhaps the first time in years.

It makes me think of our spiritual life — seeing God and His perspective clearly and unhindered.

AW Tozer in Pursuit of God says,

With cataract surgery as a metaphor, my early morning singing of “Be Thou My Vision”** has taken on a new depth of meaning…

I’ve always needed Him to be my Vision. And He has been from my childhood — His Person, His will and His way. But because I live in this fallen world, because I am groaning and awaiting my full experience of redemption, I can still be prone to the “soulish cataracts” of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They discolor and muddle the clarity of Christ’s life within me.

But the good news is I am trusting the indwelling life in the Spirit:
[Notice the interplay of hidden, veil, glory, see, blinded, light, darkness …]

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image…
… If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
… For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 4:3-10 NLT

And so I continue to sing, morning by morning, my declaration to my God and my reminder to my soul*:

Be Thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart
Not be all else to me save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word,
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight
Be thou my armor, and be thou my might
Thou my soul’s shelter, and thou my high tow’r
Raise thou me heav’nward, o pow’r of my pow’r

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise.
Thou mine inheritance now and always.
Thou, and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, oh bright Heaven’s Son.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, oh ruler of all.

**For the backstory of the song and several musical versions, click here