It's As Plain as the Nose on Your Face

       Have you ever tucked something away because it was important and then, forgotten where you put it?  Then, when you find it, you feel silly because it was right in plain sight.  I did this with some important papers.  I thought I had put them in my desk drawer for safe keeping.  Unfortunately, I must not have been focused on what I was doing because when I went back to find them they were not there.  A feeling of panic came over me, and I began to tear apart my desk to find those papers.  After going through everything, I gave up for the night.  The next morning I decided to look just one more time.  To my surprise, the papers were exactly where I thought I had put them.  Why didn't I see them the night before?  I had gone over my desk carefully but somehow missed the papers.  My mother used to tell me, when I could not find something, that I was looking too hard.  If I would just step back, take a deep breath and regroup, I could find the lost item more quickly.  Sometimes things are as "plain as the nose on your face".
     In fact, we have a major example in God's Word of something which was in plain view but the majority of people did not see it.  The Children of Israel were awaiting their Messiah but their expectations were far removed from the words of the Old Testament and the prophecies made about Jesus.  They believed Messiah would come as a conquering king who would drive out the Romans and free Jerusalem.  Instead, God sent his suffering servant to be the perfect lamb to take away the sins of those whom the Lord would call.  He didn't seem to measure up to the notions of the Pharisees who saw Him as a man who ate with tax collectors and sinners.  They wanted political freedom and did not see that they were in greater need of spiritual freedom from sin.
     Isaiah 53:1-12 paints the picture of Messiah more clearly than any other passage.  The prophet foretold that Jesus Christ would be rejected by men:  "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not."  Our Lord walked among His people for 33 years.  However, many refused to believe that He was Messiah.
     While He walked among them, He performed miracles to confirm His identity.  He fulfilled over three hundred prophecies of the Old Testament and He fulfilled perfectly all the Law and the Prophets.  Yet, He was despised and rejected because men were convinced of a Messiah made in their own image, and this is true even in our own time.
     Sin blinds us and makes us unable to receive the truth.  Only when God awakens our dead soul can we hear, see and respond to the call of Christ in our lives.  Oh, we may tell ourselves that we would have never rejected Jesus if we had seen all His miracles; however, we are only deceiving ourselves.  A man/woman entrapped by sin cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit draws him/her.

     Often in our lives, we will overlook the obvious as I did with that set of papers I was looking for.  We will miss the answer to a problem, a solution to our dilemma, the right person for a job all because we operate on our own expectations rather than bringing God into the equation.  Sometimes, the answer IS just as plain as the nose on our face.  If we miss salvation through Jesus Christ, we have missed the most important and crucial decision of our lifetime.  Following Him is the beginning of living real life.  Secondly, if we miss hearing His voice and seeking His guidance in all our decisions, we also risk losing time and energy on second best avenues rather than His fulfilling plan for us.
     I am trying to be more mindful about where I place things now so I don't end up searching high and low for the obvious item.  Maybe you have been looking for answers or directions from God.  The first place to begin is to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Then, follow His lead because He is simple and His yoke is light.  Often God's guidance is right there in front of you waiting for you to look right at it.  Open your eyes and ears to His wisdom and step out in faith.  Selah!