In Genesis 18 we are privy to a conversation displaying all sorts of heart attitudes which are still applicable today, right where we are, everyday.
As the conversation opens, we see Abraham sitting in the door of his tent, which was his dwelling place, his home and covering. It’s probably somewhere around midday, so it’s hot and he’s taken shelter from the sun. As it goes with us, when it’s hot and we’ve gotten out of the sun for a bit, the same was probably for Abraham in that he may have even been dozing a little, waiting for the heat to fade. There are some really key points in this story for us to notice. Abraham himself is more than likely still recovering from circumcision three days earlier, so he is sitting rather than moving about. The text gives no indication that he has been watching the horizon or expecting company. Suddenly, against that background, three figures are simply there.
In all of that, the Lord drew my attention to a process in vs. 2, where it says, “he lifted up his eyes”, “he looked”, and “when he saw”. If we look a little deeper than the English simplization of the verse, looking at the Hebrew, variations of seeing come to light. To say, “he lifted up his eyes” is an idiom meaning he was looking around, not looking at anything specific, like someone who is waking up from dozing, noticing their environment, with no particular focus.
The next phrase is “he looked”—Hebrew ra’ah. Something has caught Abraham’s attention. He’s no longer just scanning the landscape. His gaze locks onto something—or someone—of special note.
In this case, the word “ra-ah” carries a note of surprise, a sudden realization. It’s the difference between casually saying “look” and saying, “Look at that.”
Three figures appear where a moment before the visual field was empty, which was completely out of the ordinary for a man sitting at his tent in the middle of nowhere. I believe God Himself is directing Abraham’s eyes. It’s the kind of moment that makes you think, “Oh my—where did they come from?”
Now watch what happens with the same word the second time.
The phrase “when he saw them” uses ra’ah again, but with a deeper nuance. This is no longer just noticing. This is prophetic seeing—eyes wide open, head and heart fully engaged, contemplating something astonishing.
And that little word “when” matters because “when” is a time word. It hints that a moment passed and Abraham took it in. Realization and revelation settled on him.
God alone is the sole source of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and if God doesn’t give us wisdom and insight, we simply won’t have it. i am saying, there is wisdom here to be grasped in a modern society where uncertainty is deliberately advanced by those whose hearts are darkened to leverage others for their own advantage at the expense of those held in uncertainty. You know those types, the ones who count every word to either gain a following or to shape a response. This is not that.
God operates in the opposite. He wants us to be certain, and to be wise and have understanding. As a result, here is three facets of seeing, intentional orientation, sudden discovery, and focused perception and understanding. Thinking of those three facets, we can see they describe how we come to understand things, they reveal God’s process, and point to His preferences, and standards.
The Lord’s heart is not only for us to wake up and grow up, but also to be interested enough in Him to take notice and understand. Today, too much of the church is simply spending their time being continually cycled through an organized program every Sunday and it’s very contractual. Typical leadership seems to have the attitude that congregations need to be managed, and as long as people are engaged in “activities”, they feel like they’re being a part of something larger. It is government by consent of the governed. Church leaders design and run the programs, schedules, and activities and the people keep showing up, participating, giving, and staying. Their continued participation is treated as consent. As long as the congregation remains engaged in the organized cycle, leadership can claim (or at least operate as if) they have the people’s agreement to be managed this way. It is consent to being managed rather than consent to growing up. The people are content and consent to a shallow, activity-based arrangement, and leadership is content to sit up high and govern on that basis.
From the beginning, God almighty desired to be known by the object of His affection, us. He not only offers us deliverance and salvation, but He shares His attributes with us, and “seeing” is one of them. He desires we be involved with Him, doing more than simply possessing fire insurance and fully engaging in activities, but knowing Him and understanding, certain and confident He is all He says and more. His ways are better than ours, higher and profitable. He will, indeed, if we are willing to do more than just casual looking, God will open our eyes to “see” and comprehend. He wants us to do more than simply go to church, His desire is for us to advance our relationship with Him and the body of Christ. That is the “having life more abundantly” part spoken of in John 10:10.
Not too long ago, upon hearing the scripture from John 10:10, where Jesus said that He came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly, an inmate at jail church said, “i’ve been living a two-part life. A life as a rebellious criminal, and another life as a believer. All my days i’ve been in poverty on both sides of that two-part life, and now you’re telling me that Jesus wants me to have life abundantly? i’d sure like all that abundantly to show up about now.” The man was looking but not seeing, he may have been focusing in general, but not on the Lord specifically. His head and heart operated independently of each other, and were not in sync. The inside of his house did not match the outside, or, his conscience and character did NOT get along, in fact they probably often opposed each other. He was conflicted!
There was always the undercurrent of criminal thinking, and if he got entirely too honest then the thrill of leveraging the outcome at the expense of someone else would be gone, his eyes would be opened, and then he’d have to be responsible. Just going to church didn’t solve any of his problems, but for a while, he sure did look good without actually having to be righteous.
Let us do more than just live a life of continually rising from our drowsy state, more than just looking around with unfocused eyes, but be fully engaged with God, head and heart as one. Choose to look, purposely note what God is pointing out to you, and look carefully enough to understand. Like Abraham, let us orient, discover, and then discern.
What do you think?