It may sound contradictory, but a person can see, yet not see. God tells Ezekiel that his people "have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear" (Eze 12:2). The little picture below illustrates this.

Seeing Yet Not Seeing

You can see the little picture, yet you may not see it until I tell you it is a giraffe going past a second story window. You may say, "Oh, now I see!" You have been given another kind of sight. We call it "insight". A word occasionally used in the Bible is "Behold". Beholding is not merely seeing. It is seeing with an intensity and insight that goes beyond a mere physical processing of light entering the eye.

When Jesus healed a blind man, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" The man replied, "I see men as trees walking". He could see, but he was confused . Jesus touched his eyes again; then he saw clearly; he had not only sight, but insight, to make sense of what he saw (Mrk 8:22-26).

It was not enough to see. He had to in-see This is how the Greek puts it. "I see..." (blepo) in verse 24, becomes "he in-saw" (ene-blepen) in verse 25. Seeing without insight is seeing without understanding. It is seeing without discerning significance, and that is not really seeing at all.

Two people in the outback, may both have 20/20 vision, yet one way be blind compared to the other, because one lacks the insight to discern useful meaning from the image the eye provides, whereas the other reads information in the image that spells survival. The Australian outback is not merciful to those who venture into it blind of such insight.

The Most Important Kind Of Seeing

The most important kind of seeing is the seeing of spiritual realities. Many people are blind to these. They see well enough with the physical eye, but their inward eye is blind, so their perception of this world is faulty. The physical picture is clear, but the spiritual insight is dim. This darkness of heart results in spiritual death (Rom 1:20-21, Eph 2:1-5).

Paul wrote, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope to which God has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (Eph 1:18). And again, "This is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight" (Php 1:9). This is the true second sight.

It amazes me, that people can read so much into what they see with their eyes when they look at...

• a drop of blood in the microscope,
• a company balance sheet on the computer terminal,
• a cloud pattern in the sky,
• a prospect's posture and expression during a sales presentation,
• an animal's footprint in the dust,
• the position of the stars in the night sky,
• the colour of iron in the forge,
• the movement of traffic on the freeway,
• and a thousand such things.

It saddens me, however, that so few can look into a mirror on the wall, and comprehend, with any depth of insight, what on earth they are looking at, and why on earth it exists! There's really no excuse for us to be like that. We should have spiritual insight, because it is provided for us in full and overflowing measure in God's word. It is light for the eye within, the eye of second sight.

May God enable the enlightenment of your inner person, to "comprehend what is the breadth and length, the height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." (Eph 3:16-19) .

How to have depth of insight.

Home | Topics | List | Next