OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

Obscured by Clouds

We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

2 Corinthians 4:18

READ 2 CORINTHIANS 4:16–18

A rare supermoon appeared in November 2016—the moon in its orbit reached its closest point to the earth in over sixty years and so appeared bigger and brighter than at other times. But for me that day the skies were shrouded in gray. Although I saw photos of this wonder from friends in other places, as I gazed upward I had to trust that the supermoon was lurking behind the clouds.

The apostle Paul faced many hardships but believed that what is unseen will last forever. He said how his “momentary troubles” achieve “an eternal glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Thus he could fix his eyes “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,” because what is unseen is eternal (v. 18). Paul yearned that the Corinthians and our faith would grow, and although we suffer, that we too would trust in God. We might not be able to see Him, but we can believe He is renewing us day by day (v. 16).

I thought about how God is unseen but eternal when I gazed at the clouds that day, knowing that the supermoon was hidden but there. And I hoped the next time I was tempted to believe that God was far from me, I would fix my eyes on what is unseen.

By Amy Boucher Pye

REFLECT & PRAY

Lord God, sometimes I feel like You’re far from me. Help me to believe the truth that You are ever near, whether I feel Your presence or not. 

What does it mean for you to fix your eyes on what is unseen? How does your hope in Jesus help you face the difficulties of life?

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INSIGHT

Paul’s call to ministry included the call to suffer (Acts 9:15-16). In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul described extensively his hardships. He was “hard pressed on every side . . . persecuted . . . struck down . . . always being given over to death” (vv. 8-11). Already adequately sustained by God’s sovereign power and sufficient grace (vv. 7-9), Paul was spurred on by God’s surpassing glory (vv. 16-18). Even though physically ravaged, God was renewing him every day. With eternity in view, Paul considered his sufferings as “momentary” because they would not follow him into his eternal life, and “light” because the reward that awaited him was far weightier (v. 17). Like Paul, we can look beyond our current troubles and see the “glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (v. 17 nlt). K. T. Sim