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While staying at our favorite vacation spot, we rose early the first morning expecting to enjoy the usual spectacular view of the harbor. However, a shroud of thick fog had done a disappearing act over it all. The charming little boats, bobbing seabirds, shoreline shops, and their mirrored reflections were invisible. The only thing breaking through the murkiness was the revolving light of the lighthouse. When the fog continued throughout that day and into the next, we began to wonder if we would ever get to see the view on this vacation. It seemed as if it had just disappeared. That it was gone! I grumbled in complaint.

Thankfully, another day later, the fog began to lift revealing the stunning harbor was still there with all of its’ sparkling beauty. Of course, we knew it hadn’t gone away, but the fog had clouded our memory of just how beautiful it truly was. We’d forgotten so many of its’ colorful details that are doubled by their reflections and create a peacefulness that’s hard to beat. Worst of all, my own fogginess had become moody doubt and despair.   

This moment of clarification made me realize how often I find myself in a spiritual fog. How I can let the things of this world cloud my memory to all the wonderful things God has done. Then, just about the time I start to feel down and doubtful, He reveals Himself in all His spectacular glory. It might be in the joyous laughter of a baby. Or it might be like the kindness I saw in the toothless smile of a homeless woman. Happily smiling as she received a free cell phone from a nonprofit program, she told me she was concerned about a certain group of homeless people and wanted to offer them some of her money. I was humbled beyond words at her generosity and joy.

However it happens, and whatever He uses to lift the fog from my spiritual eyes, He breaks through my haziness. And like the light in the lighthouse that never stopped shining through, God reveals that He is always there. 

Is it just me, or do you also find that the storms in your life, or even plain old worry, tends to cloud your memory of God and the times He was there for you? Perhaps He even did some amazing thing or answered a long-held prayer, yet most of us struggle to remember the feeling we had when His answer came like a flash of lightning. And in case you haven’t noticed, the difficult times we face are when we need faith the most. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Despite my own dark and murky view of His presence, when I manage to keep my trust and faith in the Lord those are the times when I realize that God has been there all along. That it was my own foggy notions that had kept him hidden and at bay.  

Yet, we shake our heads in appall at the memory lapse of the Israelites after all the amazing miracles they’d witnessed? Spectacular miracles like the parting of the Red Sea, or the angel of death passing over their houses, yet they forgot them only a few days or weeks later? They even began to imagine that their lives were better off as slaves in Egypt. Moses frequently got frustrated with them. Perhaps they were still wearing the clouded vision of slaves—physically free but emotionally and mentally still captive in many ways.

With a hindsight look through the lens of Biblical history, we might criticize their lack of faith, yet we do the same thing. Only, for us, much of our foggy thinking comes from today’s captive culture in the form of social media, unsettling politics, and confused, distorted values—a different kind of slavery. 

As I considered that wonderful emancipation story, an irony occurred to me. The Israelites were instructed to follow a special cloud by day and the fire by night as they ventured away from Egypt towards the promised land. When attempting to understand the concept of the trinity I’ve often thought about water, which can be liquid, solid, or gas and yet at the same time be water. If we think of God in the spirit form, it reminds me of the vaporous substance of clouds.

Hebrews 12: 2 tells us to “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross.” So, the Israelites were told to look at a cloud and we are told to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. How do we as believers keep our focus on Jesus in today’s world? How do we best keep the foggy haze of our world from clouding our memory of God’s power and interaction in our lives? 

Stop by my blog next week for a few suggestions on ways you can keep your spiritual focus clear. You’ll also read a new revelation God gave me that will enlighten your view of Easter with joy and encouragement. So, tune in next week to see my four ways to keep a clear spiritual focus.

If you’ve had a blurred view of God that you’d like to share, leave a comment here and perhaps it’ll be an encouragement to others. Or just comment so I know you read it. And don’t forget to check my blog post the week of March 26^th. 

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