Vision and Reality

Psalm 147:5                                                                                                                                         Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

For more than forty years I lived near the Pacific Ocean.  There is something about its vastness and power that is awesome and humbling.  One can feel very small and very in need of guidance and perspective on the shore of so great a body of water. 
Looking out where the water meets the sky, stirs the imagination. Because my world was small for most of those years, it was faith in cartographers and books and acquaintances who had traveled that made me believe there were lands beyond that horizon.  They seemed inaccessible and exotic and intimidating.
Then we moved to Chicago.  One day on the shore of Lake Michigan I gazed at the horizon and saw water touching sky.  There were no powerfully rhythmic crashing waves, but there was the same apparent vastness.  I realized that without a map I would have no way of discerning that Lake Michigan is tiny by comparison to the Pacific Ocean.  Vision is precious, but very limited in what it can reveal.
This is even more true of our spiritual vision.  We see such a tiny slice of the expanse of eternity and the plans of God.  It is good he gave us a map in the Bible.  We are wise not to chart our courses without its guidance.