I Was Blind and Now I See Part II

The story of the man blind from birth is one of the most poignant and beautiful stories in the New Testament.  It is so incredible because we are all blind.  Jesus said "I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."  When we think that we see and understand everything, the Lord makes us blind by giving us trials.  He causes things to come up that shake our confidence in our mortal sight and senses.  Death and pain and trials that wrench our hearts take our trust off the arm of the flesh.  We come to the point where the world that we see just won't solve our problems and in our agony we turn to Christ.  It is only then that He can help us see.


Maybe I am an anomaly but I have been on my knees pleading with the Lord about some infirmity that I have been dealing with.  I ask God to take away my weakness or solve my problem.  Sometimes I feel abandoned and forgotten and want to scream "where are you!" to the heavens.  I search the scriptures and things start to look better.  I can feel heaven a little nearer.  And then Jesus spits in the dirt and puts mud on my face.  Just when I feel like relief is in sight another dimension is added to my pain.  I cry out again for relief, but what I don't understand is that He has been trying to humble me the whole time.  But He has to do it His way and not mine.  That uncomfortable mud in my face might be an awkward apology or a new direction in life.  Usually it is something I don't want to do or want done to me.  I plead with Him, "I wanted my pain and weakness gone, but did you really have to spit in my face?"  But then He asks me how much I want the blessing I am asking for.  What price am I willing to pay to be free from sin or affliction?  Is it worth walking to the pool of Siloam?  


I have been horribly spiritually blind.  I have stumbled around clumsily trying to find my way in the dark.  I have felt the stirrings of the Spirit sending me on my journey to Siloam.  I have dipped my hands in the redeeming water and had my eyes opened.  I was blind but now I see.  


This process of struggle and revelation is God's plan.  But it starts with us realizing how blind we are.  We must walk this path to obtain any blessing from Him.  There is no royal road to repentence or to knowledge.  We all must trudge blindly to the pool of Siloam.  The voices of the world will seek to silence what we learn.  The knowledge of God is threat to the power of their worldly institutions and learning.  We cannot hope to compete with them at their own game.  We face them and with them our own doubts with something they cannot give or take away.  That something is our own experience.  We know those areas in our lives where we were blind and now we see.  A testimony is not complicated.  It can be given in one sentence as it was almost 2000 years ago by a beggar from Jerusalem who simply said "I was blind but now I see."  I pray that God will help us all to see and testify of what we have seen.