Say You Want a Revelation?

The thing about waking up, at least for me, is that it rarely happens without outside influence of some sort. I've never gotten that whole internal clock thing down. It's always a noise, or alarm, or voice or light, or allergies that wakes me up to begin the task of getting my vision on.

Vision when it comes to a more spiritual or personal thing is, I believe, much the same. Vision has to be inspired. Now, I believe we humans are insanely and innately creative, but it takes an outside force to make that shotgun style creativity take a more precise route. I may want to do something to help someone, a pretty good, and also pretty general idea- not vision. Vision requires focus, as my non-corrective lensed experiences have proven. And for vision to be made possible, there needs to revelation. The outside force or thing that wakes us up.

I want to help someone, but I don't have a real vision for what that is until I see the guy pushing his car off the busy road when it runs out of gas. My general idea or desire to help someone becomes a vision for helping Mr. I-Know-I-Can-Make-It get himself and his car to safety. A vision brought on by the revelation of seeing a specific person with a specific need.

For many of you Christian readers, the word revelation inspires thoughts of the End Times. Now, before you run and grab your copy of Left Behind, Revelation (yes, the word and the book) really mean an unveiling. When one experiences a revelation, they are seeing something new, by the hand or action of an outside force. I cannot reveal something to myself, because a reveal implies that the reveal-or knew about this before the reveal-ee. So, what is the alarm clock that reveals the way to our vision?

Yeah, church answer time: God. God reveals to us many things, and from those revelations comes vision.

He uses lots of stuff to reveal to us. He uses other people, books, the arts, nature, the Bible, and sometimes He simply tells us, maybe not in words, but in a deep abiding sense that this is God speaking to me. Just recently, a friend confessed feeling distant from God. As we were praying later on, while he spoke with God, he stopped for a second, almost lost in thought. As we ended, he said it felt like in the prayer, everything else just faded away, and it was just he and God.

Revelation.

I believe God is constantly offering us revelation, but few of us ever see it. And so, many of us never seem to have vision and therefore sleepwalk through life.

Here's how I think it works. Everyday the sun rises- that's God's revelation. We know its out there, we even know when it will happen, yet few people purposefully see it. I only see the sunrise if I have to. But anyone who has seen one can tell you it is beautiful. Now, a lot people miss it because they enjoy their sleep and choose to ignore it. Others miss it because even though they are up, they busy getting ready for the day. Still others miss it because things are stormy and the weather is bad that day and the sun is obscured.

God's revelation comes, but many of us miss it because we are sleeping in, or too busy to notice. Others miss it due to the fact that there are many storms and troubles in their lives- from doubts and fears to illness to outside forces working hard to keep us from seeing God's revelation. The few who do see God's revelation live diferently because of it- they have vision.

So what is God's revelation? I don't know, and neither do you until you see it. That's why it is a REVELATION. Those who want vision must be awaiting God's revelation. Don't worry, not always seeing it, or in fact never seeming to get it don't mean you're a bad person, and for beleivers it doesn't mean you're not a Christian, you just haven't yet figured out what to pay attention for. And when you do it will be by accident, anyway.

Your revelation may not be a John type, or Isaiah type or even a Jonah type. Revelations don't have to be huge, earth shattering things. God's revelation may just be that broken down car, or that homeless guy or that loner in class. It may be a sudden feeling that it's just you and him right when you need to know where He is.

However it comes, once you have seen a revelation, find your spiritual glasses and get some vision- you're going to need it.