When Sickness Won’t Let Us See

“We must work the works of Him Who sent Me and be busy with His business while it is daylight; night is coming, when no man can work.” ~ Jesus

I have spent much of my childhood blind.  Looking back now, it was as if a dark cloud muted my sound, my thoughts, my sight, my understanding.

But God loves us too much to leave us in the blindness of our situations.

Another man was blind. Was blind from birth. And although we often think we have to run to God, chase Him, be holy enough, or righteous enough before we can reach the cloak of His holiness…

Here scripture simply says, Jesus noticed him and stopped. (John 9:1)

But sure enough, the disciples wanted to blame shift the blind man’s predicament. “Is it his fault or his parents fault His is sick?” (John 9:2)

And oh friends, I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this same thing in my long history with my own physical infirmities.  Some have pointed to me, my lack of faith, or others love to label this thorn in my flesh I face continually….

But here, God says, “He was born blind in order that the workings of God should be manifested (displayed and illustrated) in Him.” (John 9:3)

My daughter is completely deaf in one ear, and struggles at times in her good ear.  She was born that way. And it would be easy to blame.  But instead, we count it all joy, and trust God will use it to bring glory to Himself one day.  In fact, He already is.

How many of you have struggled with the “cause” of your ailment?  How many of you doubted, or blamed, or felt condemned because of your situation…a situation that no matter how you have prayed, or tried, or controlled….it just doesn’t seem to be getting better?

Well, I want to encourage you.  Don’t analyze, dissect, or criticize why you are struggling. Just look to Him.  He alone is all of our redemption.  And at the feet of His surrender, Christ promises to bring beauty from whatever your situation.

We all know the story. Jesus told the blind man to wash the mud away, after Jesus took it and spit on it, placing it on His eyes.  And yet sometimes, though God is our healer, there can be physical steps we must take, to pursue and walk out our healing.

What I love about this story is that this man is so ignorant about His healing!  He doesn’t dance in the streets, ask for any fame, or even recognize that Jesus is more than a prophet.  All He does is quietly, humbly go about sharing his testimony, declaring,

“Yes, the man who healed me is named Jesus.”  And, “Yes, I was the one who used to sit and beg on the streets before Jesus transformed me.”

Yet, how often do we remain silent when God does a good work in us?

The blind man had every reason to stay silent.  For almost instantly the skeptics, the unbelievers, the Pharisees in the Synagogues came to discredit the world of Jesus.

And isn’t it no different from today?  We often can’t fathom that Jesus is more than a statue like figure we pray to once a week.  Can’t we all harbor similar unbelief when we hear that Jesus if more than a man…but a healer, a friend, God incarnate, resurrected….walking in the same power he had then, today?

 Worse yet, the Pharisees discounted Jesus being from God completely. “Jesus can’t be from God because he didn’t observe the rules of the church”. They call him a sinner, the amplified says, “How can a (bad man) do miracles.”  (John 9:16) 

Now the blind man’s parents were even summoned by the unbelieving Jews. They also claimed ignorance because they feared the leaders questioning them. (John 9:21-22)  So, they made the leaders drill their son again.  “How did this happen?  Ask him?”

But this is the great part.  This is the part that makes the criticism of the Pharisees, the unbelief of the Jews all worthwhile…

As those high up in the church drilled the man for the second time….The once blind man simply said this….

“All I know is…I once was blind, now I see.”

Pure. Simple. Humble. Honest.

And oh the simplicity of God confounds our understanding. The veil ripping in this man’s heart even before Jesus crucifixion. A God who chooses to come humbly, incarnate for the sake of all of our healing….That we might see though we were blind.

Where in your life does God still need to heal you?  Not just physically, but in your wisdom and understanding of God?  Are you like the Pharisees, lost in dissecting, analyzing, and picking apart the character of God…in hopes to see him better?  Or do you try to assert your authority, hiding unbelief in a cloak of self-righteousness?

How are you blind?

My prayer for all of us today is that God would make us child-like.  That innocent hearts would lead us to just follow Him to the pond as He instructs us...even if it doesn’t make sense.  

My prayer is that we can trust….that even if we are blind…there is nowhere too far that God won’t find us, holding out His hand, offering us His deliverance.

And as He takes mud (the most lowly thing of man), we might let Him place it on our eyes that we might understand (sick or well), all is for His glory.  That we too, like the blind man might declare to the world…

“I can’t explain Christ’s touch in human terms.  All I know is…I once was blind.  Now I see.”