What Are You Looking At? | Handling Contempt As A Christian

What are you looking at? It matters where you look. Wouldn’t you agree? Perhaps you are daydreaming which means you’re staring in one direction for an extended period of time. Suddenly, you realize that there is a person in that direction and he’s glaring back at you! We have all experience funny situations like that. Or, perhaps you’ve been playing basketball dodgeball, or football and because you were looking the wrong way, you and the ball made an unfortunate contact!

When Hallie's Comet passed in 1996 it was so close to the earth that it could be seen with the naked eye. We were living in upstate Illinois at the time. It was dark. We had just returned from the church as we made our way up the sidewalk to the mud porch at the back of our old farmhouse. The sidewalk was narrow and because of the amount of snow each year, the concrete was thicker than most, but there was no snow at the time. As our little family made their way up the sidewalk, I saw the comet. It was exciting to see such a display in the night sky! But, it is not recommended to walk on a thick, narrow, concrete sidewalk while looking nearly straight up in the sky! As you guessed, I stepped off the sidewalk and rolled down our downward sloping yard! I was okay and we all had a good laugh! The direction of your sight makes a difference.

What we behold with our spiritual eyes is even more important than with our physical eyes. Increasingly God’s people are the objects of scorn and contempt. We must not lose heart but look to God. This is a psalm about “eyes.” The Psalmist uses the word “eyes” four times in this chapter. With that we may add that he uses words like “look,” “lift up,” and “wait” are to define the message. Together these all develop for us the spiritual concept of the eyes of faith. During the scorn and ridicule by skeptics, the Psalmist’s eye of faith turns toward God and His merciful deliverance. What do God’s covenant people do when they are the objects of rejection and persecution?

If we follow the wisdom of our times we will find ourselves looking downward to the ingenuity and resources of man. Or, we may, with modern religion, look inward to ourselves. Neither of these will produce anything of lasting value. To look to man is to place our trust in science, philosophy, pop culture, and celebrities for answers to the dilemma we face. And to look inward is to believe that inside ourselves we can find peace and wisdom but if this were true how do we explain our need in the first place? To look inside ourselves for purpose, meaning, and answers is, quite literally, a dead end. In His Word, God warns us against the dangers of trusting in man-centered thinking. Proverbs 29:25–26 "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. [26] Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice." (ESV)

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