Maneuvering In Darkness

“Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.  ‘Go…wash.’ So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” John 9:6-7.

Can you imagine being this man?  He lived in darkness his entire life being blind from birth.  My commentary states that blind people in this day had no other destiny except begging.  His entire life he had maneuvered in darkness, bumping into this and tripping over that.  This story does not state that the man went up to Jesus but Jesus approached him.  As the man continued to beg in his darkness, how surprising it must have been to suddenly have some wet and muddy mess on his eyes.  What on earth could have been going through his mind as Jesus told him to go and wash the mudpack from his face? Just when things were already bad, life got muddier.   But in a major faith move, the man rises and goes…believes and hopes…rinses and dries…opens his eyes and sees the beauty of his surroundings never seen before. 

Life is challenging and sometimes when we think things can’t get worse they do.  Things that are already dark seem to get even darker and more disparaging.  We fall into sleepless nights and reach out to steady ourselves when we constantly are tripping over our emotions.  But, we cannot give up and resort to a life of begging…praying to God with little hope.  Our destiny is not darkness but freedom regardless of our circumstances.  We must power our prayers with belief in the goodness and love of God even when our walk seems dark.  When Jesus places His hands on our circumstances they have been touched by the power of God.  The fall of man ushered in sin and sickness but God uses it to display His power and authenticate His kingdom to come.  We must believe in God's purpose and plan for our lives.  '...but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.' John 9:3.  Sin and sickness do not have the final say for they are temporary blind spots along the way towards living in complete Light.  I might be feeling around for answers on earth but I know that the little sight I have on earth will be nothing compared to the view from Heaven.  There will be a day for all of us when we feel the warm hands of Jesus cover our eyes and when we awake we will see our eternal surroundings like never before.

Eyes closed to this world…eyes opened to Heaven.  Eyes closed to nurses…eyes opened to my loved ones.  Eyes closed to sin…eyes opened to purity.  Eyes closed forever to Satan…eyes opened to the sweet smile of Jesus.