most times we only see what is immediately before our eyes, our vision is merely of things near to us, these are the things that influence us. Too short a range of vision leads to your life becoming smaller than the Lord would have it; you become far too easily satisfied and contented in the realm of the things of the Lord; you have a small, narrow horizon - you are not looking right on. Things near - that may apply in different ways. The things that are near are always the things that are most likely to upset us, to limit us, to disconcert us. We do become so occupied with the thing that is nearest. When we are right up against a situation and something is right up against us, we are in such danger of thinking that is all, that is everything, that we forget we have negotiated many such an obstacle before which we thought was going to be the end of everything for us. We learn our lesson so slowly. Here is another thing right at hand, right before our eyes; another mountain, another hedge, another real difficulty; and again we think - This is going to spoil everything, this is going to be the end of everything. All we see is the thing near at hand. But to look right on means surely to say this - Yes, this is a difficulty, but there is another side to it, it is not going to be the end. It is one of the things that is included in laying aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset. What is the sin which doth so easily beset? It is this, that the big difficulty of today blots out tomorrow, seems to get right in the way of any future at all. That is the easily besetting sin. Do not have too near a view, do not have too small an horizon. Let thine eyes look right on. There is something very much more than the difficulty of the day, the very present thing, the near thing. The Lord will teach us as we go on that we can reckon on very much more than the things which are up against us now. We shall go on and leave them behind. Do not let us take them as the limit. Whatever they are, they are not the end. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left (Proverbs 4:25-27) There is a great deal packed into that, but it just means this: Get Gods purpose clearly and fully in view - nothing less, nothing other - and adjust the whole of your life to it; adjust your life to the ultimate. Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:17,18). The eternal is kept in view, and life is adjusted in every way to Gods end. How busy the enemy is to circumvent the onward movement and the final attainment, by getting us entangled and compromised in this earth, somehow to slip in something that will be a check, an arrest, a hold-up. Oh, the spiritual tragedies all around by some foolish relationship, some entanglement, some consideration of convenience, some pandering to the satisfaction of the flesh, something somehow slipped in by the enemy; and there it is - you just cannot go right on to Gods end. Something is holding you back, some relationship is keeping you tied up, something has come in. Adjust everything to the end, have all your affairs in life brought into line with Gods end. When you are considering a relationship, have Gods end in view. When you are considering the next step in your life, have Gods end in view. When you are deciding where you are going to live and do your work, have Gods end in view. When you are deciding what your business is going to be, have Gods end in view. Everything brought into line - that is the meaning of this Make level the path of thy feet or Weigh carefully the path of thy feet. We have to say to ourselves, Now then, this is an opportunity, a prospect, that seems to hold a lot of good; but first of all, what is this going to mean for the Lord, how does this relate to the full end of God? Nothing less than that must weigh with us. Let thine eyes look right on - not just at this thing, not even at what it seems to promise, but right on. How does it relate to the end? In all things, look beyond; see what is the relation to the full end of God; and adjust accordingly. Get the vision, and adjust life as far as possible in relation to it. Weigh carefully the paths of thy feet and order them aright. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Let thine eyes look right on. Some of you may find yourselves in spheres and conditions where perhaps you will have many a temptation to accept something less, where it seems impossible to have all that you would like to have, where it seems that Gods full purpose cannot be realized: therefore you will settle down to something less and other. You may meet all kinds of things to divert you from the course of the on-high calling. The word to you is: Let thine eyes look right on. Remember your Lord, offered the kingdoms of this world and the glory thereof: He refused them and looked right on. Yes, He was offered an easy way out, a way out of the Cross; but no, He let His eyes look right on, He set His face as a flint. His eyes looked right on, and here it is recorded, as we read in the next part of the verse from Hebrews: Looking off unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He set His eyes on Gods end. May we have grace to do the same.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 05:34:01 +0000
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