I can’t imagine being born
blind. I can barely get around my house without tripping on something that is always there now. When
driving through Ruston, Louisiana, I noticed people with their eyes covered walking around
with sight sticks. I later found out that Ruston was the home of the Louisiana
Center for the Blind. The center teaches students
the tools necessary to live life independently. Finishing the program requires students
to dropped off at a random location where they must find their way back.
My trip to Ruston was years
ago, but I recalled this while reading a
novel whose main character was born blind. She used echolocation to get around.
Echolocation is the “ability of humans to
detect objects in their environment by sensing echoes from those objects, by
actively creating sounds.” The protagonist in the novel I am reading used
clicking sounds from her mouth to “see.”
Throughout
our lives, we will encounter many who are
blind, though most of them can see. Their eyes may physically work, but they
are blind in other areas. Jeremiah 5:21
says, “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not
see, who have ears but do not hear.” This verse tells me that God wanted them
to know something, but they chose not to
hear it for some reason.
There
are a variety of reasons that people do not see. Ignorance is one of those
reasons. Ignorance is not stupidity. It is merely a lack of knowledge. If you
saw a cow for the first time, you would not know what it is unless someone
tells you it is a cow. The same is true of other
things. If you have never been taught a truth, how can you know it? I have experienced
people training me on the job that did not want to explain something
because they preferred to be the only one with that knowledge. They thought it
made them more valuable to the company. When the time came for me to use that
knowledge, I could not. I was blind to that truth.
One truth that I learned over the years is God loves us all. Sometimes, we are
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| Image source: Seasons of Life Ministries. |
Sometimes we do not see the truth in our lives because we are
too busy looking at the problem in everyone else’s lives. We choose to look at
the negative in people without understanding what we need to correct ourselves.
Often the thing that aggravates us about someone is the same trait that we
have. We just don’t see it. We complain about others being close-minded, but we
don’t listen to their point of view. Matthew 7:3 says, “Why do you look at the
speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in
your own eye?”
Some people can become blind after being able to see at
first. Something changed to make them blind. Often, we do not know the truth
because we have experienced something that distracts us from that truth. It is
hard to believe that the Father loves you if you were abused by your parents.
The abuse does not change the fact that he loves you. The experience blinds us
to it. God did not want you to suffer. Sin brought into this world brought the
suffering. We want free will but blame God when someone uses the free will to
hurt us. Often these experiences lead us to blindness caused by resentment.
Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” If we seek the
Lord Jesus, he will reveal the truth and open your eyes to the reality that
will bring you peace.
While many have learned to live with blindness, there is a
better way. Quit holding on to things that hide the truth. See the truth. Do not choose
to remain blind.
Blessed are your eyes because
they do see, and your ears because they do hear. (Matthew 13:16)
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