In the movie, Evan Almighty, an exciting conversation ensued between God (Morgan Freeman) and Joan Baxter (Lauren Graham) when she was worried about her husband and the assignment he was undertaking and how it affected her, and God (Morgan Freeman) gave this classic response;
If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?
This statement is true because, as one travels through scriptures, you are faced with stories that lend credence to the above statement. For example, in Genesis 13:1–13, we saw how Abraham, after leaving Egypt in a quarrelsome circumstance (Genesis 12) had to also grapple with separation from a close family member (Lot) due to contention arising from their men. But in verse 14 of Genesis 13, we now see how God leveraged all of these situations and caused Abraham to refocus his gaze on Him. This now re-established Abraham on the faith lane and nudged him closer to destiny.
In Matthew 14:24, we saw how a raging storm buffeted the boat Jesus’ disciples were travelling in. Amidst all that pandemonium, Jesus approached the disciples walking on water, but only one disciple took advantage of the opportunity of the moment to fix his gaze on Jesus and replicated the feat of ages to walk on water (albeit temporarily, because he took his gaze off Jesus, but you get the gist 😊)
One common denominator in Abraham and Peter’s experiences is that what they considered trials were actually opportunities to manifest the supernatural, but the only pathway to doing this was to fix their gaze on the Master. For Abraham, fixing His gaze on God translated into seeing that His inheritance wasn’t tied to how lush the land was, but to what God had said concerning the land, and for Peter, fixing His gaze on Jesus (who is God, by the way) meant achieving a feat no one else has repeated except for Jesus Christ.
As you step into this new week, the only way to correctly interpret any situation you find yourself in is by first fixing your gaze steadfastly on God through His Word and Prayers and only then can you begin to interpret that situation out of the abundance of the revelation He furnishes you with. Remember, that in Hebrews 12:2, we are admonished to fix our gaze only on the one who authors and finishes, because there is no better assurance elsewhere.
Have a remarkable week.
Nonso Orji
@nonso_orj