Shortsightedness

Mr Donovan was my high school chemistry teacher.  I remember Mr. Donovan for three reasons. First, he looked and acted like Richie Cunningham. Richie Cunningham was the clean cut, highly intelligent, socially awkward, and value driven main character of a popular show called “Happy Days” that I watched growing up. The second reason I remember Mr. Donovan is when I told him that I planned to attend Morehouse College, he said “I’ve never heard of it.” I remember being unsure if he was being honest or dismissive—or both. But I recall my icy response, and the look on his face when the rhetorical bomb I dropped exploded in his ear. “That’s not surprising,” I replied. “But I am sure that you have heard of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” It’s where he went to school. It’s where he learned to fight ignorant white people like you.” In retrospect, I probably should not have said that. LOL. But I’ve always had a tart tongue and a relish for verbal repartee.  The third reason I remember Mr. Donovan is that he really tried to persuade me to study medicine and contemplate becoming a physician. He would often say that I had the ambition, aptitude, and attitude to make a great doctor. I appreciated the compliment. I still remember it after all these years.

I did consider Mr. Donovan’s career advice.  I am still fascinated by science. Routine visits to the doctor are rarely routine in my case, because I always want to engage with the doctor about the latest medical news, medical discoveries, and the logic behind a diagnosis he may give or a medicine he may prescribe. While waiting in the Lobby of my ophthalmologist’s office, I once overheard him tell somebody that they had myopia. I knew the word, but I did not know that word referred to a medical condition. So of course I looked it up.

According to one scientific journal, myopia is a “refractive error of the eye that is greater than or equal to .50 diopters, where parallel rays of light come to a focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it.” The more common name for myopia is shortsightedness. When you are shortsighted, you can’t see things that are far away. When you are shortsighted, your focus is distorted. When you are shortsighted, you can only see what is directly in front of you. As I sat in the doctors’ office, it occurred to me that myopia is not just a physical condition. It is a spiritual condition as well.

Perhaps the best known case of spiritual myopia in scripture is Saul. Saul was the first king of Israel. Saul was born into a wealthy family, was a courageous warrior, and possessed an impressive physical bearing. The scriptures describe him as being “head and shoulders above” everyone in Israel. He made, as I heard an elderly gentlemen once tell a young couple, “the race look good.” Saul looked like a King. Saul looked every bit the part.  Unfortunately, he did not have the substance to play the part. As the weight of his office began to extract it’s toll, the cracks in his internal armour began to show. The biggest crack in his character was his envy of David, his protege.

Saul actually recruited David to be his armourbearer following David’s astonishing defeat of the giant Goliath. But Saul’s affection for David was short-lived. Soon after David’s triumph, Saul heard a song that would snap his sanity. 1 Samuel 18:6-9 tells us what happened:

And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. And the women answered one another as they played, and said,

Saul hath slain his thousands,

And David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

After hearing that song, Saul’s vision shrank. After hearing that song, Saul’s perspective narrowed. After hearing that song, Saul’s purview diminished. All Saul could see was David. He could not enjoy his past, savor his present, or plan for his future. Saul would spend the rest of his life trying to kill someone who God had anointed to be his replacement. Instead of killing David, Saul eventually killed himself. But an argument can be made that Saul killed himself long before he died on the mountains of Gilboa. His short-sightedness poisoned his relationship with his son, corroded his kingdom, and destroyed his peace. Short-sightedness always short circuits your future.  Those words "And Saul eyed David”  are the sure recipe for failure and frustration.

So here’s my question for you today: who or what do you have your eyes on? What past regret, present obstacle or future decision is looming so large in your vision that you can’t see anything else? Be very wary of anything or anybody that dominates your perspective. Anything or anybody that dominates your perspective will eventually distort it.