Refocused Faith Sharpens Spiritual Sight

And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (Luke 1:18-20).

The incredible good news was met with incredulous doubt. Although he was a priest, accustomed to praying and interceding for the people of Israel, Zechariah doubted. Although he knew the stories of God’s supernatural interventions in the births of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel, Zechariah doubted. Even though he stood at the altar of incense, before the veil of the Holiest place in the Temple, and in the presence of Gabriel, God’s supernatural messenger, Zechariah doubted. His question was not born of disrespect, but revealed a deep desire to be certain, to be assured, and to believe. How shall I know this? In this encounter between priest and angel we learn how refocused faith sharpens spiritual sight.

Rational faith is a natural gift. Everyone has faith in what they can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. We trust countless things every day without even thinking about them, because we know them through our natural senses. We believe the sun will rise and set, the clock will advance, the plane, train, bus, or automobile will get us where we are going, and so much more. We trust people, although we find them a little less reliable than things. Zechariah responded to the message of Gabriel with his eyes fixed on the natural circumstances of his life. He and his wife were too old to have a child. His nearsightedness kept him from believing and receiving the precious blessing God wanted to give him. The Teacher inspired Luke to record Zechariah’s response as a prompt for us to check our own eyesight, to see if we are able to see and receive the spiritual things God wants to show us… “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Maturing disciples are able to look past our natural circumstances to see the supernatural truth God wants to reveal because we do not walk by natural sight alone… “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Refined faith is a divine gift. God allowed Zechariah and Elizabeth to age without children. Through a lifetime of devoted service God brought the priest to this very intentional encounter with His messenger. Now Gabriel invoked nine months of silence for Zechariah, a period of both muteness and deafness (see Luke 1:62). With the Spirit’s help we see that it was all in order to dull his natural senses and heighten his spiritual senses. Through His word and in the midst of life’s trials Christ refines our faith and increases our spiritual sight that we might see and know Him more clearly… “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Reaching faith moves our focus from the natural to the supernatural. For born again and growing disciples there is so much more than just the natural world around us. It’s true that we must walk with our eyes open, with an awareness of the natural world around us, but we do not limit our sight to the natural world, we reach beyond the world of the seen to the world of the unseen… “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Gabriel showed up and prompted Zechariah to grow his faith by readjusting his focus. As our faith matures, the Spirit of Truth reveals more and more of the supernatural world that is beyond our natural senses… “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

As we grow up into Christ we see Him and His truth more clearly because…

Refocused Faith Sharpens Spiritual Sight.