The Pursuit of God - Week #7

Chapter Seven – The Gaze of the Soul

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

I love this chapter! What a wonderful word on contemplation Tozer gives here, along with an unashamed endorsement of those great mystic saints of hundreds of years ago whose lives were characterized by lovesickness for Jesus and wasted time spent in “gazing” on His beauty…Tozer admonishes the modern evangelical Christian culture with these words:

“I feel that we could gain much from a little acquaintance with men of his (Nicholas of Cusa) spiritual flavor and the school of Christian thought which they represent. Christian literature, to be accepted and approved by the evangelical leaders of our times, must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of ‘party line’ from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half century of this in America has made us smug and content…Nicolas was a true follower of Christ, a lover of the Lord, radiant and shining in his devotion to the Person of Jesus…”

I open with this quote to set the tone for this chapter which is all about gazing on Jesus and the fundamental role that it plays in the Christian’s full experience of God.

Tozer begins the chapter by saying that any person who approaches the Word of God with a simple heart and unprejudiced mind with nothing to prove nor defend “will not have read long until his mind begins to observe certain truths standing out from the page.” High on that list of things that the Bible gives primary focus to will be the doctrine of faith, and the reader would likely conclude that “faith is all-important in the life of the soul. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith will get me anything, take me anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can be no approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no communion, no spiritual life at all.”

If this is true, then we should be deeply concerned about whether or not we have faith. The author goes on to say that the Bible approaches the theme of faith practically, not theoretically. It doesn’t attempt (except for Heb. 11:1) to define faith but rather shows faith in action in the people of God.

One such example is the story in Numbers 21 where faith is seen in action when the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people of God after they spoke against God, resulting in death among the people. Moses sought the Lord on their behalf and God commanded that he put a brass serpent on a pole for the people to look at and gave instruction that anyone who looked on it would live.

Jesus interpreted this story in John when He was explaining how His hearers could be saved through believing (John 3:14,15). Tozer says that any simple/plain man reading this would immediately discover that to “look” and to “believe” are synonymous terms. “’Looking’ on the Old Testament serpent is identical with ‘believing’ on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing…I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.”

Other Scriptures that carry this meaning are Psalm 34:5; 123:1,2; Matt. 14:19; John 5:19-21; Heb. 12:2, etc. Indeed, the whole tone of the Bible is summed up in Heb. 12:2 from which we see that faith isn’t a one-time act but a continuous gazing at God.

“Believing, then, is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to ‘behold the Lamb of God’ and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return once again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.”

Training the soul to gaze requires a volitional act. This is what the saint of God, Brother Andrews, learned and speaks of in his classic, Practicing the Presence of God. To reach a place where gazing with the soul on the Person of God is what we do whenever our minds are not engaged in “earthly affairs”, we must “practice” His presence volitionally and consciously. Eventually, not only do our thoughts automatically go to Him when the mind isn’t preoccupied with earthly duties, but even when the mind is preoccupied with earthly responsibilities, there’s an inner “secret communion always going on.”

“Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. It would be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us.”

How wonderful this is! I can say from personal experience (though I don’t claim to have perfected it) that to live in this reality is the best way to live. And it is wonderful to know that exercising faith is this simple and that it pleases God. Tozer isn't talking about a religious exercise that's magical but a reaching of the soul for the real God. My weak reaching for Him through the practice and habit of beholding Him in my soul counts as faith to Him! And this begins to cause confidence to arise in me so that I live and pray from a place of confidence that He hears and is present with me. As Tozer says at the end of the chapter: “When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us we shall be ushered onto a new level of spiritual life more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The Triune God will be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of simple duty here among men.”

In conclusion I will say once again that the spirit of the age we live in now makes contemplative prayer more difficult than ever before. To get quiet long enough to “behold” the beauty of God (and that takes time) is warfare, but it is well worth the fight. I believe the prayer movement that God is raising up today is, in part, about fighting for time and space to train the soul to gaze. Many today are blocking out a portion of their life (a month or few months or few years) to focus primarily on worship and prayer in order to then walk out their calling filled with the mind and life of Jesus. Not all can do this, but I would encourage you to find times and places to develop the inward habit of beholding God. “A new set of eyes will develop within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are seeing the scenes of this passing world.”

“O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting me to look away to Thee and be satisfied. My heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision till I see Thee but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in Thine own precious blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled eyes gaze upon Thee all the days of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I be prepared to behold Thee in full splendor in the day when Thou shalt appear to be glorified in Thy saints and admired in all them that believe. Amen.”

Rich blessings on you this week as you looked to Him – may your countenance be radiant because of your looking at Him! Next week we will cover chapter 8: “Restoring the Creator-creature Relation.”