#353 Overcoming Illusion Psalm 36:9
I see a threatening circumstance and I jump to a conclusion out of fear. I hear something someone said that someone said and I make a judgment. The issue at hand seems so unpredictable, it seems impossible to deal with. Beware of optical illusions in life!
It is easy to “see” something in life, and to be absolutely sure of what we are seeing, and yet not see accurately.
And so the importance of letting the Holy spirit guide us into each next step of truth we need to see. John 16:12-15
The challenge to see accurately:
By arranging a series of patterns, images, and colors strategically, or playing with the way an object is lit, the brain can be tricked into seeing something that isn’t there. How you perceive proportion can also be altered depending on the known objects that are nearby. It’s not magic — it’s an optical illusion.
There’s also the Ebbinghaus illusion, or Titchener circles, which messes with how we judge the size an object.
It’s all relative. When two circles that are exactly the same size are put next to each other, but one circle is surrounded by larger circles and the other one by smaller ones, the circle surrounded by the larger spots tends to seem smaller than its counterpart. Michelle Castillo
Contrast Effects: The unsettling effect seen in this image (called a Hermann Grid) is one of many optical illusions that take advantage of the way our visual system processes contrast information. The important lesson to take away from this exercise is the following: What you see is not what you get. In other words, the “image” of the world received by light receptors in your eye is not exactly the same as the “image” that reaches your brain. Professor William Warren
Our adversary knows how to over-stimulate with color, or create a context like the above picture that causes some type of distortion, for example causing something to look bigger or smaller than it really is. John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14 We can base our judgments and beliefs on the appearance instead of looking beyond to the truth.
We may have the belief that there are not enough resources to finish the work God has begun in us. Luke 14:27; 28-30
That is illusion!
For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day…” 2 Timothy 1:12
We may have the belief that there are too many obstacles and too strong an opposing ‘army’ to be victorious. Luke 14:31-33 That is illusion! “If God is for us, who can be against us He who did not grudge his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need?” Romans 8:31 Phillips
O LORD, we need Your eyes and Your wisdom to be able to truly see.
“For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we see light.” Psalm 36:9
Teach us to see beyond distortion, exaggeration and misperception to see the truth of Who You are in our daily lives (Ephesians 3:16-21) and the truth of the blessing You stand for on behalf all our human family. Romans 8:19-21
Teach us to walk by trust and reliance on Your Truth, and not by appearance:
Teach us to walk by faith and not by sight.