What do you do when your circumstances look nothing like God's promises? Here's what.

The following encouragement is used by permission from Dianna Hobbs’ “Saturday Sip” devotion series. Get more inspiration like this from Your Daily Cup of Inspiration here.

My youngest son Kaleb started complaining about blurry vision and light sensitivity a few weeks ago. After going to see the eye doctor, he was diagnosed with eye strain caused by too much digital screen time. Kaleb, who is 13, is a budding illustrator and animator. He draws characters on a digital device and creates moving images out of them. His work is quite fascinating, but it requires him to look closely at his screen for extended periods of time.

So the optometrist recommended that Kaleb reduce the amount of time he spends illustrating and animating on his digital device to give his eyes a break. Since his eye doctor visit, Kaleb has followed those orders, and his eyes are slowly improving. Before the improvement happened, however, everything Kaleb tried to focus on from a distance appeared distorted, and he strained to see clearly.

As I considered Kaleb’s recent challenges with his eyes, I thought of Psalm 119:123 NLT where the writer says, “My eyes strain to see your rescue, to see the truth of your promise fulfilled.”

Unlike Kaleb, the writer’s issue was not with his natural eyesight but his spiritual insight. During a time of persecution, struggle and anguish, he could not see any sign of divine help. In the King James Version of this same passage, he says, “Mine eyes fail…”

His natural vision failed in that it was insufficient to assure him that all would be well. Based on outward evidence, it appeared there would be no deliverance from oppressors. Have your eyes ever failed you? Mine have. But here’s the thing: our hope doesn’t have to fail us — not when we look at circumstances through a lens of faith.

“What God said is greater than what you see. Focus on His promises and not your problems.”

— Dianna Hobbs

In February 2015, as you may already know, I was diagnosed with Glaucoma and told by a specialist that I would be blind within five years. Well, that bad news was given to me exactly five years ago, and here I am today with great eyesight. Glory to God!

But when I received the earth-shattering news, at the time, my eyes strained to see God’s promises. But you know what happened? My faith rose within me. Even though Glaucoma—one of the leading causes of blindness—had already caused such extensive damage to my eyes, and specialists gave me no hope, I hoped in God’s word, and He healed me.

Friend, your hope must be in God’s word too, even in times when you strain to see His promises. When you hope in God, your eyes may fail you, but your faith will not. Your natural vision may be blurry, but your spiritual vision will remain clear. If, right now, your eyes are straining to see God’s promises, here’s what you do: stop focusing on what you see naturally.

Romans 1:17 says, “…the just shall live by faith.”

So then, true faith is not based on what we see but what we believe. Choose to believe the report of the Lord. He is faithful to fulfill His word!

Now, let’s pray.

God, there are some areas in my life that don’t look anything like the promises in Your word. I don’t see any progress or positive change yet. But I know that You reward faith and as long as I believe, I will see Your goodness revealed in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

---