Eagles perhaps have the keenest eyesight of God's creatures, it being five or six times sharper than that of humans. From high in the air they can spot their next meal of fish or rodents and dive below to catch it in their powerful claws. The Biblical description of the eagle says, "Her eyes behold afar off" (Job 39:27-30). I believe the eyes of an eagle contain a lesson for us regarding spiritual vision.

Until a person is born again, he is spiritually blind (2 Corinthians 4:3,4) and therefore cannot see or understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-14). When a person is converted, his eyes are opened, and he is given spiritual sight (John 9:25; Luke 4:18).

After being saved, a believer can still have vision problems. We learn in 2 Peter 1:3-9 that a child of God who is not growing and maturing spiritually is "blind, and cannot see afar off." Such a Christian does not have eagle eyes, but lives his life more for present, material things than those which are future and spiritual. Sadly, many who profess Christ as their Saviour have this condition of spiritual myopia.

In an earnest prayer of the apostle Paul's, he desires that the child of God would have eagle eyes. He prayed "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the [full] knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding (hearts) being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:17,18).

This prayer is only answered in the child of God who is taught the truths of God by the Spirit of God from the Word of God. Such illumination results from the heart—not merely the intellect—being affected by the knowledge of God. Then the believer's vision is drawn to the purposes of God, and the promises of God, the hope still future of His calling, and the riches of the glory of all that awaits us. When such realities of faith "afar off" are put before our eyes, the emptiness and vanity of earthly sights will not be able to hold our attention.

Our eye is the door to the soul. What we fix our gaze upon affects our spiritual life. It is the Word of God that enlightens the eyes (Psalm 19:7,8; Proverbs 4:20-27) to see eternal things. We need to keep God's Word before us continually "as frontlets between [our] eyes" (Deuteronomy 11:18), so that our whole body may be full of light (Matthew 6:22,23). Then the believer will be able to discern the times in which he lives, and the lies of the god of this world. He will see the needs of his fellow believers, as well as those still unsaved (John 4:35).

Revelation 3:18 says, "Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." The Word of God applied by the Spirit of God in faith is this eyesalve that imparts eagle eyes.