It's Not a Lightning Bolt

Expecting God would show up in His ultimate power as He did with the Egyptians and drive out the Romans, restoring Israel to a mighty nation once again, they couldn't even smell the breath of God, who at times would stand just a few feet away from them. They had no expectation that He would have flipped the script and redefined strength from slinging lightning bolts from on high to lying helplessly in the arms of a virgin girl in a barn, and once again on a cross three decades later.  

Even in the middle of his years on earth, hearing His teaching, which was superior to their own and witnessing His miraculous healing power, they couldn't see the truth because it didn't fit into the box they expected.  

"Then Jesus told him, 'I entered this world to render judgment- to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.'" (John 9:39)

I often find myself blind to the truth of a matter because it doesn't fit within my imagined or desired box. I can get so caught up in what I WANT to be true that even though the truth is breathing in my face, I don't accept it. The smartest person in the room is the one who truly believes they aren't.   

We all know "separated ones" in our lives. Pharisees who believe so much in their own wisdom that they focus so intently on what they think is true that they miss the truth altogether. I have one who shows up often and just stands behind the sink in my bathroom, staring at me.  

You won't open your heart until you open your mind.

Believing you are a separated one is the fast track to demise. Humble yourself, wipe the mud off your eyes, and realize that all you have learned so far is nothing compared to the truth that is to come. If you spend your whole life looking for the lightning bolt, you may miss the baby right in front of you.