Corrective Lens
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And You have put Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Psalm 139:5-6 LSB
It’s been almost 54 years since I’ve been able to open my eyes and clearly read the numbers on the clock, any clock. Without the aid of corrective lenses, it is a neon sea of red, a blur of indistinction that causes a cascade of squint, of scramble for glasses and of irritation. There is never a break, but, increasingly, there is blessing.
Over half a century, I’ve learned two things through my visual limitations – an appreciation and gratitude for clarity when it comes, and humility, embracing my need for assistance to change how I view things.
In that, the God-breathed Word has become and increasingly is the corrective lens through which I am learning to see the great I AM. In His declarations, I am gleaning perspective on who I am in Christ as I take in His Word and His marvelous creation!
First, the clarity. David wrote Psalm 139 in response to who God is!
Take a moment and read this portion of Psalm 139. Notice anything? I have always read this Psalm from a man-centered perspective. God has search me, known me and is intimately acquainted with all my ways. There is nothing false in that. But, over the past decades, I am learning what it means to read the Scriptures through a God-centered lens.
O Yahweh, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all of my ways. . .
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I lift up the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. . .
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret,
And intricately woven in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unshaped substance; and in Your book all of them were written
The days that were formed for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
David’s focus, in this lyrical tome, was and eternally remains on the All-Knowing, All-Present, All-Powerful One! David expounded the very nature of God! The shepherd boy turned king perceived and proclaimed the impact of the Creator’s glory upon His creation. Because God is who He declares Himself to be, therefore, I am fully known, never alone and sovereignly held from eternity past through eternity future.
In light of that corrective lens, I exclaim with David: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.
And now, the humility. When the corrective lens applied is the WORD of God, my focus becomes less and less of me and more and more of Him!
Go back through a favorite and familiar Psalm. Re-read it but this time with a more intentional God-centered focus. What do you see that you have never seen before? Take note of that new view, and then, with gratitude declare along with David:
Great is Yahweh, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall laud Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty deeds.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on the words of Your wondrous deeds,
I will muse. - Psalm 145:3 – 5 LSB
Written by: Carol A. Jenkins (7/2022)
