How to Get 50/20 Vision
Sometimes it's difficult to make sense of it all. The problems challenging us—some of these being pure evil—trigger the question: Why is all this happening to me?
We could wish that life was problem-free: that there were no money problems, health problems, relationship problems, or any other problem that would sap our energy and sabotage our peace.
This vision of trouble-free living, where swords are beaten into plowshares and lions lie down by the lambs, enticed the Jews of yesteryear in a way far greater than the “South Seas island” fantasy entices some people today.
Oh, to be able to get away from it all, to lay spread eagle on the beach, to let the gentle breezes and warm sunshine caress all our worries away! Such utopian pleasures!
When picking up the Bible—this gospel of goodness, grace, gladness, and God—we might expect caroling angels, happy miracles, and visions of Heaven.
What we discover, though, are kings who burn babies, devils who possess children, governments that massacre women, and a God who drowns nearly everyone in sight.
Other ominous realities—such as the ravages of war, the destructions of nature, the torture of mental illnesses, and man’s inhumanity to man—have made it quite clear we live in a very scary world.
When taking into account all these plaguing problems, the Lord’s announcement, “In this world you will have tribulation,” seems to have been the least insightful thing he ever said.
Yet, God’s resistance to the smooth and easy way is more than apparent in Scripture.
Concerned about this resistance, St. Teresa, a nun from fifteenth-century Spain, wrote in her diary, “Lord, when wilt Thou cease to strew our path with obstacles?”
The Lord answered her, “Murmur not, for it is thus that I treat my friends.”
Teresa sighed and replied, “Ah, dear, Lord, and that is why Thou hast so few.”
Perhaps so, but the fact is: The easy life will hide our weaknesses and prevent developing strengths that can only be developed during a trial.
Genesis 50:20 records Joseph’s words to his brothers after the long ordeal he endured in Egypt. The brothers intended him evil, but God was at work, superseding all they did to bring about good.
Finally, Joseph could see it! What was perplexing for a long time was now clear!
Intertwined in Joseph's story, you will recall, was a betrayal by his family, mistreatment by those who had respected him, being thrown into a ditch and then into a jail, and even worse, God's seeming absence and total lack of concern that his plan for Joseph's rule had come to this.
Given all this time to reflect, Joseph eventually recognized there was another evil conspiring against him, and it came from his own heart—pride.
At last, with pride finally uprooted, envy dispatched, the brothers reunited, his family saved, his rule come true, Joseph gained a profound understanding, namely this: It was these very trials that led to his triumph!
It would have been so easy for Joseph, even at this stage of his life, to view his circumstances on the horizontal level only—the brutal brothers, the evil Egyptians, the wicked woman, Potiphar's wife.
Joseph could have seen all this as justification for bitterness and reason for revenge.
But Joseph didn't do that. Why not? Because he gained what we may reverently call 50/20 vision.
As with Joseph, you should know that God has nothing to do with the evil that comes against you. Nothing! I Corinthians 10:13 says that there is no temptation that comes to man except such as is common to man.
Do you know what that means? It means your problems are Father-filtered. It means that God will never allow any problem in your life that is greater than his supplied resources.
C.S Lewis wrote, “If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent with far less help to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.”
The theology behind these observations comes from the verse we just cited. Granted this verse doesn't say everything; it lets in a little light, for which we can be grateful. But the problem of theodicy—a sovereign God and human suffering—though not insoluble, is not solved by one verse.
In his book, Pure Gold, G.D. Watson said believers “are led through processes of severe trials, hot furnace-testings, which put to thorough proof every virtue and every grace of their hearts.”
Further addressing this theme in his book, Soul Food, G.D. Watson described the intended results of God’s test when he wrote: “It withers our cleverness, cauterizes our smartness, teaches us true humiliation and self-abasement. It clips the rattling talkativeness from our tongue … and shows us our demerit in a strong light.”
Without this knowledge, we would never make the changes needed. But if we have 50/20 vision, that's another matter. We will see. We will benefit. Vision improves performance!
Stan Musial, the hall-of-famer from the St. Louis Cardinals, attributed his high life-time batting average to his ability to see the ball eight feet from the pitchers hand. Ted Williams, the hall-of-famer from the Red Sox and the last man to hit over 400 for a season, said he could see the ball five feet from the pitcher's hand.
Their extraordinary vision explained their extraordinary accomplishment.
But to get the 50/20 vision Joseph got, we must, like he, pass the tests God administers. The life of everyday ease won't give us that.
