WHEN YOU FEEL INVISIBLE

 John 10:3

    The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

                I do not presume that everyone has had this experience, but it is one that many of us can relate to. It is the feeling of being invisible, unseen, unacknowledged. I have experienced this feeling in several different ways throughout my life.

                When I was a boy at school, I often felt invisible to my classmates. I often felt like an outsider looking in. When I got to jr. high I intentionally tried to be invisible to certain people, i.e. the class bullies. At the same time, I felt invisible to the students who coursed around me. In high school, I was actively involved in choir. Each year our school would put on a musical. Each year I would audition and each year I would be placed in the choir. Both my older and younger brothers had been given speaking roles at different times. This made me feel even more invisible when I was denied the same experience.

                There have been many times in ministry when I have felt invisible. When I have watched colleagues of mine recognized for their ministry efforts, I often felt left out. Out of curiosity, I recently looked up how old Rick Warren and Max Lucado are. They are both my age. When I look at what they have accomplished, I think, what happened to me?

                There have been many times when I have attended a gathering of pastors and ministry leaders when I have felt invisible in the crowd. I have never been the kind of person who can command a room. I have often found myself hanging out on the fringes of the crowd, sometimes even hiding in the shadows.

                Why do I bring all of this up? It was prompted by a TV show we have been watching lately called MONK. It is the story of a brilliant detective who is plagued by countless obsessions and a low self-esteem. Recently, the episode we watched had several flashbacks to when Mr. Monk was in jr. high. As I watched his experience, I found myself transported back to my own experience.

                You can write off my ramblings as venting or complaining or even feeling sorry for myself, and you may be right. But that does not negate the genuine feeling of being invisible. It is a real experience and many people live in those feelings every day of their lives.

                The danger for those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus is that we may begin to feel that we are invisible to God. God seems to care about other people, but we feel left out. If you have ever felt that way, welcome to the club. It is essential that we recognize our feeling of invisibility and counter it with the reality of our relationship with Christ. We are never invisible to Him. We are never insignificant to Him. And what we do in His name is always noticed by Him, whether or not anyone else pays attention.

                One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 139. David may have been feeling invisible when he wrote this psalm, but he took his feelings and aligned them with the reality of who God is.

Psalm 139:1-12

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord. 

You hem me in--behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain. 

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast. 

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

                 When we feel invisible, we need to come back to this Psalm and be reminded that we are never invisible to God. God is watching with keen interest what is going on in our lives. God is watching with love and compassion, desiring for us to experience His unbounded care. God is watching and He delights in us.

                Years ago, I made a conscious choice to let go of the comparison game. I decided that all that really mattered was what God thinks about me. I do not have to compete with others to feel valued and appreciated, because the creator of the universe has shown His light of love into my life. In the end, the only opinion that will really matter is His.

Matthew 25:21

    "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'