Sight But Not Vision

There is a difference between sight and vision. Unfortunately, in our society, the two ideas seem to be equated. I think they are vastly different. Sight is a physical attribute that allows us to physically see. Vision is something that goes beyond sight to see what can be but is not yet. The reality is that sight can get in the way of vision. I preached this morning on the story of the Deuteronomy. The book begins with the story of the 12 spies who went into the land to scope it out before the nation would transverse the Jordan. When they came back, 10 of them told why the nation should not go into the land. All the reasons were valid, as long as all you were doing was looking at the things you could see with your eyes. The people, the spies said, were taller, stronger than the Israelites. The cities, said the 10, were fortified with walls that went up to heaven. They convinced the nation not to go over into the land. They had been betrayed by sight.
40 years later, Joshua led a new nation (all the others except he and Caleb and their families had died) across the same Jordan. What did they find? Exactly what the spies had reported. The people were strong, tall, living behind incredibly fortified cities with walls that seemed to go to the sky. But now, with a long, hard Wilderness wandering behind them, these people came with a vision that was greater than their sight. The vision? They believed that God was greater than strong, tall men; they believed God was greater than fortified cities and high walls. So, according to the word and vision they had received, they marched around the city a few times and, lo and behold, the walls came tumbling down. The vision was greater than what they could see.
I just listened to Joel Olsteen (not one of my favorite preachers but a great speaker) and he talks about imagining your future before it comes to pass. It sounds a lot like The Prayer of Jabez idea of claiming your territory. Regardless of how you state it, the principle is the same. It still is based on the idea that sight is human and vision is divine. You can only have a vision through the eyes of God's Spirit.
If you need a fresh vision of the future, don't bother getting some self-help, self-actualization book. Instead, pick up the Bible and read Deuteronomy (OK, some of it gets tedious but do it anyway) and then begin reading Joshua and you will see the difference between a group of people who could only see and a nation of people motivated by a divine vision that changed the course of history.