Open My Eyes!

OPEN MY EYES!

a prayer to open

Holy Spirit, come. Center my heart.

Fill my mind. Guide my steps.

Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. But one day some men . . . started to debate with him. . . . None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.

The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.” . . .

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?”

This was Stephen’s reply: . . . “Listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham. . . . God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ So Abraham left the land [and] God brought him here to the land where you now live.

“But God gave him no inheritance here. . . . God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’

“God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.

“These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt. . . .

“But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan . . . and our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt. . . . So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors. . . .

“As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt. . . . This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.

“At that time Moses was born. . . . His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.

“One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.

“The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’

“But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.”

Stephen was chosen as one of seven men to oversee the daily distribution of food to the Christian widows living in Jerusalem. He also performed miracles and received great opposition and criticism. His words, wisdom, and wonders—all gifts from the Holy Spirit—represented new movement by God in the world, one that looked different from what people expected. So those who were entrenched in the old ways didn’t recognize that Stephen’s words and actions represented the fulfillment of the very promises God had made to the Jewish people through Abraham and Moses. Instead of defending himself against their accusations point by point, Stephen responded to his accusers by reminding them of the bigger story in which they found themselves. We all need this reminder from time to time. We get stuck in our small stories and lose track of God’s story and all he might be inviting us to be a part of for his Kingdom and the sake of others.

• Read this passage again. What word or phrase stands out to you? Sit quietly, reminding yourself that you are in God’s loving presence, and ask him to show you how that word or phrase connects to your life.
• What are the ways you generally expect God to be present, speak to you, or respond to you? What are those expectations based on? Do they in some way limit your ability to hear from him in new ways?
• In what area of your life right now are you longing to see God intervene or act but sensing only silence and inaction? How might this area of your life be a bigger part of his story?

Father, open my eyes! I want to see where you’re at work and align with what you’re doing in my life. Remove any barriers in me that blind me from noticing your presence. Remind me of the grander story you’re weaving together so I can share that story with others. Empower me by your Holy Spirit to be patient and notice you in unexpected places. Amen.