When a friend told me her husband had quit his job because he felt God told him it was time to move on, I understood. But I was surprised he quit before finding another one. I was even more puzzled when she told me that he believed God was calling him to work for one particular company. There was a tinge of doubt in her voice as she said it but she supported her husband. Who was she to stand in the way of God?
The company her husband was eyeing was a good employer, had great benefits, and paid well. Everybody wanted to be there. So I wasn’t sure if it was actually a ‘God calling’. Like his wife, I was a little skeptical. It seemed more like his desire rather than God’s will. But who am I to judge? Just because it doesn’t make sense to me doesn’t mean it wasn’t God’s will. God could very well have called him to work for that company, no one but God knows for sure.
Whatever the case, this gentleman was so confident about being an employee at said company that he didn’t look for employment elsewhere. He believed he was acting on faith. Yet regardless of all his efforts, he never got hired.
Have you ever been so focused on how you want God to answer prayer that it clouded your vision?
Clouded vision
The children of Israel did. They knew their Messiah would come. They eagerly waited for that day. The Messiah would be the one who saved and set them free (Isa 9:4). It was prophesied the government would rest on his shoulders (Isa 9:6). Based on their interpretation of the prophecies, they created their version of the Messiah. Then they waited for that guy to show up. But he never did. They were so fixated on their idea of the Messiah that many didn’t recognize Him when he arrived. It’s a condition I call clouded vision (not an actual condition).
Clouded vision is when we become so focused on how we want God to answer that we fail to see what He is doing. The children of Israel were so certain about what kind of person the Messiah was supposed to be, they failed to see the true Messiah.
And sadly clouded vision is what my friend’s husband suffered from as well. He never got a job at that company and eventually stopped saying God wanted him to work there. His pride took a serious blow. But the greatest tragedy was all the opportunities he missed because he was so adamant God was calling him to work for that company.
What I’ve learned
Our ideas on how we want God to act or answer our prayers can cloud our vision and prevent us from seeing what God is doing. If there are unanswered prayers in your life, look to see if God has done something for you in a way you didn’t expect.