Spiritual Tunnel Vision

"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee."  Proverbs 4:25

Tunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision, or simply put, your eyes' field of view is narrowed down to the extent that you cannot see sideways without turning your head. In other words, people suffering from this condition only see what is in front of them.

We use the term "tunnel vision" to describe people who focus, fixate, and obsess over one thing. Tunnel vision van be harmful when it causes us to be self-absorbed or makes us insensitive to the needs, problems, and opinions of others.

But when it pertains to God's vision for His church and our individual lives, tunnel vision is essential. God's vision must be our vision.

The Apostle Paul was a man with spiritual tunnel vision. From the time of his conversion, he was consumed with fulfilling God's vision of taking the gospel to all nations and making disciples of Jesus Christ. He told the Philippians, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:14

Nehemiah is a great Old Testament example of someone with spiritual tunnel vision. Living during the Babylonian exile, he received a bad report concerning Jerusalem, his ancestral home. Nehemiah is informed that the people are in great affliction, and the city walls are broken down. The news breaks his heart. He wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for several days.

It is not hard to know God's vision or to understand what He wants, but to successfully fulfill God's vision; we must feel what He feels. Nehemiah felt the pain God was feeling over the condition of Jerusalem and His people. You and I must feel the sorrow, love, and compassion God has for unsaved humanity before we can effectively reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We live in very dark, trying times, and if we do not keep our focus on God's vision, we can quickly become discouraged.

Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city. The work is in progress when he gets word that there is a problem with the laborers.

"And Judah said, the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall."  Nehemiah 4:10

The people had been working for a long time. The initial excitement had worn off, and they were exhausted. To make matters worse, they had been dealing with a constant barrage of threats, ridicule, and criticism from their enemies, sound familiar?

Whether we are in full-time ministry, working in our local church, or balancing home, family, and a job while serving the Lord, we cannot afford to become wholly drained physically, mentally, or spiritually.

On January 11, 1982, Edmund Gravely died at the controls of his small plane while on the way to Statesboro, Georgia. His wife Janice kept the plane aloft for two hours until it ran out of fuel. During this time, she sang hymns and prayed for help. As the aircraft crossed the South Carolina - North Carolina border, she radioed for help: "Help, help, won't someone help me? My pilot is unconscious!" Authorities who picked up her distress call were not able to reach her by radio because she kept changing channels. Mrs. Gravely finally made a rough landing and crawled to a farmhouse for help.

Have you been burning the candle at both ends? Have you lost your enthusiasm for the work of the Lord? Do problems, fatigue, and discouragement obscure your vision? If you're calling out to God for help, do not switch the channel. He has the solution!

"But they that WAIT upon the Lord shall renew their strength."  Isaiah 40:31a

We must take the time not only to rest our bodies but allow God to refresh and strengthen us spiritually. 

It is vital to have a vision for the ministry God has called you to.

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus was telling His disciples that He is about to depart. In John 14:4, He says to them, "You know the way where I am going." You have to love Thomas! He's the kid in class that raises his hand and asks the question you want to but are afraid to ask. He does not understand a word Jesus is saying, and so he says, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?"

We need a clear vision of where God is taking us and what He wants us to accomplish. We need a clear target, a sense of direction, and a finish line for which to aim. The Apostle Paul warned us against running aimlessly and fighting as one beating the air ( 1 Corinthians 9:26).

We must also guard against distractions. The enemies of Nehemiah tried their best to stop the work on the walls of Jerusalem, but he did not allow himself to become distracted from the job that God wanted him to complete. "And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"  Nehemiah 6:3

I encourage anyone that is losing sight of their vision, God's vision, to study the book of Nehemiah. He never lost sight of the calling, the task before him. He stayed close to the Lord through his prayer life, and God gave him wisdom and discernment. In spite of continual opposition from his enemies, Nehemiah kept his tunnel vision. He kept his eyes on God. Most of all, Nehemiah had persistence.

George Danzig was a senior at Stanford University during the depression. All the seniors knew they would be joining the unemployment lines when the class graduated. There was a slim chance that the top person in the class might get a teaching job. George was not at the top of his class, but he hoped that if he were able to achieve a perfect score on the final exam, he might be given a job.

On the day of the exam, George was late for class. The others were already hard at work. He sat down and worked the eight problems on the test paper; then, he started on the two written on the board. Try as he might, he could not solve either of them. He was devastated. But before handing in his paper, he asked his professor if he could have a couple of days to work on the two he had missed. He was surprised when the professor agreed.

George spent hours and hours on those mathematical problems, but could only find the solution for one of them. It was impossible to solve the other one. When he turned in the test, he knew he had lost all chance of a job. The next morning a pounding on the door awakened George. It was his professor, very excited. "George! George!" he kept shouting, "you've made mathematics history!" The professor proceeded to explain his excitement. Before the exam, he had encouraged the class to keep trying in spite of setbacks and failures. "Don't be discouraged," he had counseled. "Remember, there are classic problems that no one can solve. Even Einstein was unable to unlock their secrets." He then wrote two of those problems on the board that Einstein could not solve.

George had come to class late and missed those opening remarks of his professor. He did not know the problems on the board were impossible to solve and thought they were part of his exam. However, he was determined he could work them. And he solved one!

George Danzig did the impossible by being persistent in pursuing a difficult task. The next morning the professor made George his assistant. He taught at Stanford until his retirement.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:

"The heights by great men reached and kept,

Were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night."

Stay focused, be persistent, and keep your vision centered on Jesus Christ and what he has called you to do.

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Galatians 6:9