While lying prostrate in the wheat field under the white harvest moon, Ann Voskamp (One Thousand Gifts) comes to understand that transformation- top be able to see through the eyes of faith, can be the long miracle. It’s how we choose to behold that makes the difference. Do we behold God’s glory or bemoan our circumstances? Ann reminds us of the Israelites’ choice in Numbers 21:4-8 (“The Bronze Snake”). In response to the Israelites’ complaints about the lack of water and the miserable manna, God sent venomous snakes. Ann’s take: “Always, ingratitude makes the poison course.” For the ungrateful Israelites, poison literally coursed through their bodies, causing physical death. For us, the poison of ingratitude courses through our soul, distancing us from God and His glory, as well as carrying the potential to cause spiritual death.
As we behold glory, the author emphasizes, we are held by God. In The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer put it this way: “Faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving God.” Ann defines what is means to see through those inner eyes, to see the presence of God in all circumstances:
“Faith is the seeing soul’s eyes upon a saving God, the saving God of twisted bodies, the saving God of harvest moons. . . . Faith is the seeing eyes that find the gauze to heaven torn through; that slow to witness the silent weight, feel the gold glory bar heavy in palm, no matter the outer appearance. Seeing is the spiritual life.”
