It can be so easy to miss things that are evident.

 

It happens when we misplace something and discover it was right under our noses all the time. It happens when we think the Lord has forgotten our prayers and then He shows up in a way we did not anticipate. It happens when someone we love comments on something we didn’t think he or she had noticed about us or something we have achieved.

 

The truth is that the most observant of us still miss a great many things. Sometimes we are distracted. Sometimes we are trying to travel at the speed of light and don’t notice what is happening inside of us or around us.

 

Dan Heath writes about a phenomenon he calls “inattentional blindness” in a new book to be released in March (Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen). I have been blessed to receive an advance reader copy. He defines “inattentional blindness” as follows:

 

“…a phenomenon in which our careful attention to one task leads us to miss important information that’s unrelated to the task.”

 

I cannot speak for any of you, but I think we all experience this to varying degrees over the course of our lifetime and a diverse array of tasks whether related to our work or things at home. I think it happens in other ways as well beyond the concrete of tangible.

 

Have you ever noticed how we seem to look at our relationship with the Lord as one where we are trying to find Him or reach out to Him?

 

We look to Him in times of trouble most often and it can be so easy to forget that He is the One who initiated the relationship with us at the outset.

 

He was the One who wanted us to know Him so we would never be separated from Him. He was the One nudging our hearts and spirits to sense that love, care, and grace that He purchased at the cross. We can be pleading with Him to hear us or be near and miss that He is right there in the midst.

 

“Our faith is not simply about our hands reaching to the Father but, even more so, about His hands reaching to us. It is not just that our eyes are on God but that His eyes are on us. It is not just our prayers to Jesus, but His prayers for us. The prayers of Jesus sustain our faith. It is not our commitment to Him, but His Covenant with us that holds us, it is less about our own faith or our own abilities, and more about His perfect love toward us. Jesus already sees beyond the present testing of our faith and is already holding us up.

He is already speaking Covenant over the inadequacy of our commitment. And in His Covenant, there is hope that goes beyond human understanding. There is a sigh of relief.”

Eric and Kristen Hill

 

What a great comfort to be reminded of that and how much it resonates despite it not regularly being something we think about unless nudged.

 

Jesus sees.

 

He knows.

 

He is not only cheering us on but cares deeply about what we are in the midst of and sees beyond the trial or testing how He has worked in and through it.

 

Jesus sees the victory on the other side even though we can easily miss that He is interceding for us and will not ever lose sight of us. He will not let go of us nor allow us to be snatched from His hand.