God’s Gift of Supernatural Vision

By Marion M. Pyle−

Have you ever found yourself in a desperate situation? Do you know what it feels like to have the odds stacked against you? Have you tried everything to overcome hardship only to end up exhausted and hopeless?

There are times in life when every road seems to lead to a dead end. No matter how hard we look, we cannot see a way out. The experience can be terrifying, painful and lonely. But often, it is when we are at our most helpless that God is able to do His most powerful work.

A Supernatural Lesson in “Seeing”

The Old Testament tells the story of Abraham’s servant girl, Hagar, and her young son, Ishmael. For complex reasons, they were rejected from the safety of their tribe and cast out into the scorching Beersheba desert located in southern Israel. Their food and water supplies lasted only two days and death seemed certain. Nobody would be coming to the rescue, and even worse, they believed nobody cared. Abandoned, hopless and dejected, they collapsed
in bitter tears and prepared for the inevitable.

But, Genesis 21:19 says that “God heard the boy crying. Calling out to Hagar, He “opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.” (NIV)

This is remarkable! Hagar and Ishmael had wandered for two days without every seeing this water hole. Had it always been there but were too grieved to notice or did God suddenly and supernaturally make it appear? The Bible does not tell us. All we know is that Hagar “went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.” It’s clear that the Lord had been watching over them the whole time ready to intervene at the just the right moment. Not only did Hagar and her son survive, they, in fact, went on to flourish in that desert and Ishmael ultimately became the father of the Arab nations.

The key here is that “God opened her eyes.” Only then was Hagar able to “see” the solution
to her dire circumstances, a solution that had either not been there before or that she’d been blind to. Either way, she needed the Lord to help her “see” it.

Call you relate to this story?

Have you ever been so consumed with trying to solve life’s problems in your own strength that you forgot to partner with God and ask Him for help? Maybe you blamed Him for putting you through this hardship to begin with. Or maybe checking in with God is just not how you typically handle your affairs. He is, after all, far off in another dimension somewhere—isn’t He?—and why should He notice your problems—or even care?

The truth is God cares so much about you that He gave His Son’s life to prove it (1). He also lives inside those who believe in Him in the form of the Holy Spirit (2), a personal, supernatural comforter and guide for all of life’s challenges. Suffering is also never wasted with God—He always brings good out of it (3), but He may, at times, allow us to come to the end of ourselves so we finally surrender and admit our desperate need of Him.

Our Path in the Wilderness

In 2012, when my husband was diagnosed with deadly bladder cancer, renowned conventional urologists said he was a lost cause and that not even chemo and radiation would help. We felt ambushed, helpless and terrified. We could “see” no solution.

But, in answer to our prayers, God led us to a strategic conversation here, a phone call there, a promise from Scripture, and slowly our “eyes were opened” to a way we never knew existed. Step by step, we discovered the world of integrative medicine and by following this path not only did my husband survive, he was completely healed in less than a year. And, he remains cancer free to this day! You can read our story and every step
we took in “Healed, Healthy and Whole, How We Beat Cancer with Integrative Therapies and Essential Healing Strategies   (http://www.healedhealthyandwhole.com.)

Today, are you in a situation where you can’t “see” a way out? Do your circumstances look hopeless? Do you feel you’ve tried everything without success? Are you at the end of yourself? Call out to God, invite Him into your situation and ask Him to “open your eyes” to the solution He has already prepared for you. Watch Him turn your situation completely around in your favor. And when He does, shout it from the rooftops! Then go find someone else who is struggling, point them to God and pray that He may “open their eyes” so they may “see” the solution He has prepared for them!