HOW FAR CAN YOU SEE?

Luke 13:11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

After reading today’s text, I wanted to get an idea of what the posture described in scripture looked like “bent over and unable to fully straighten herself”. I walked a distance looking down, in the same posture as one would be in while standing to type a message on their phone: chin tucked in with their phone located close to their chest or abdomen.

This is a posture we occupy unconsciously, but it is one we will very quickly realize is not sustainable. It is in fact a posture that is not recommended from a safety perspective because one can only see their feet, with a field of view that is neglible.

You may be fully able, but a bent posture, whether physically or spiritually,  places a cap on how far you can see. That means you are unaware of danger from a good distance until it arrives at your feet, and you are also unlikely to be able to spot opportunities ahead of you before you arrive to them.

The woman in the Gospel was referred to as ‘a daughter of Abraham’, and Abraham in Genesis 13:14  was invited by the LORD to “Lift up his eyes and look as far as he could see in every direction—north and south, east and west”-  he could not do that with his eyes fixed on his feet. You miss out on so much when your eyes are only looking down. There is too much at stake for your gaze to be fixed at your feet.

#sly