The Gaze Of Faith

The Gaze of Faith

I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master. Psalm 123:1-2

FAITH IS A MATTER OF FOCUS and never a matter of looking at our circumstances. Peter discovered this when he stepped out of the boat onto the surface of the water and walked toward Jesus, sinking only when he turned his eyes toward the waves surrounding him (Matthew 14:28-33). The spies sent to Canaan discovered this too when ten of them feared the strong people and walled cities in the land and God rebuked them for spreading their fear—with a forty-year delay (Numbers 13–14). A focus on threatening circumstances produces fear.

But focusing on how much faith we have doesn’t cause our faith to grow either. That inward gaze is never satisfied; it is always aware of insufficiency and missing the one thing that inspires our faith the most. Where looking at our circumstances is a gaze sideways, looking at our own faith is a gaze in the opposite direction of its true object. Faith grows when our eyes are fixed on him.

That’s the truth behind the promise of peace in Isaiah 26:3 for those whose minds are fixed on God, and it’s the picture we see in 2 Chronicles 20:12 when Jehoshaphat honestly declared he didn’t know what to do when facing opposing armies but that his eyes were on God. That’s why worship and praise are so powerful in making us aware of God’s presence and cultivating our faith in him. Faith is not a theory or a mechanism. It’s belief in a person. When our vision of God grows, our faith grows too.

Whenever you are tempted to look within to find your faith, look instead to God. Keep your attention on him, remembering and rehearsing his goodness and faithfulness. Read of his mighty works in Scripture and recall his faithfulness in past seasons of your own life. Fix your gaze on him like a servant watches his master, and your faith will flourish in strength.

You might as well shut your eyes and look inside, and see whether you have sight, as to look inside to discover whether you have faith.