Eyes

This morning as I write this post I have Brandon Heath's song, "Give Me Your Eyes" playing in the background. I have been thinking about eyes for the last few days. On Sunday at Crash I encouraged people to look each other in the eyes as we greeted each other during the worship service. I invited my church family to take a walk through our neighborhood with eyes wide open to really see our neighbors.
As I read Revelation 4 & 5 this morning I was struck by the amount of references to eyes. In 4:6 we read that the angelic beings worshiping God were "full of eyes in front and behind" and in verse 8 their eyes are "around and within." Then, the description of Jesus as the Lamb in 5:6 includes a reference to Him having "seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth."
I can imagine John, in exile on the island of Patmos, seeing this vision and taking special note of all the eyes. Maybe he was beginning to wonder if God had forgotten about him. Maybe God couldn't see him way out there on that island. But in this vision God shows John that He does see. Not only are His angels full of eyes to see, but God's Spirit is present in all the earth with eyes that see.
Last night God's eyes saw a girl, wounded and hurting. As God saw her in pain He directed her to three of His followers who saw and loved her. They told her she was valuable - too valuable to go back into the abusive situation she had just left. They encouraged her to take shelter from her abuser, gave her the resources to escape and pointed her in the right direction.
When they called me to ask for help with the resources my heart immediately broke for her. I could feel her pain and fear in my own stomach. So I prayed. For an hour I prayed for her. In my prayer God showed me that He sees her and He loves her. God incarnate, Jesus Who became flesh and blood, felt the same pain and fear that she was feeling, the echoes of which I was feeling in my own flesh. She was not alone, not hidden from our God who cares.
I am so grateful for my friends who used their eyes to see a stranger who needed to be loved. God's Spirit in these three men saw this girl and loved her through them.

In Revelation the response to seeing God is worship.

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” ” (Revelation 5:13, NIV84)

Today may we worship our God who has eyes to see and loves.