“Lord, you made blind eyes see, now make seeing eyes blind.” This was the prayer of Brother Andrew, who was called of God to smuggle Bibles into Iron Curtain countries in the 1950s. Often the border guards would overlook the Bibles in the trunk of his car. Similarly, the army of Aram had their seeing eyes stricken with blindness in answer to the prayer of Elisha. They had come to capture him and take him to the king because he had been giving God’s revelations to the king of Israel and thwarting their attacks. “Don’t be afraid,” ... “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16, NIV). This was borne out when God opened the eyes of the servant to see the host of warrior angels that surrounded the enemy troops. I wonder how many times we fail to see how God has surrounded us with his protection through hosts of angels? What is it that makes us who have seeing eyes blind to the presence of God and his servants who are at work for our good? We may not be blind, but we are blinded by our self-centered and weak faith.
Peter said that unless we seek God to let our faith grow and grow so that all the fruits of God’s Spirit are evident in us, it will limit our spiritual vision: “But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (2 Peter 1:9, NIV).
Jesus told the church in Laodicea that their lukewarm faith and self-sufficient attitude made them spiritually blind (Rev. 3:17). Could it be that our affluence affects our ability to see what God has for us?
Jesus also rebuked the Jewish leaders because they were blind to the truth he was revealing to those whose eyes were open to him. Have we sometimes let our religious traditions make us blind to what God is doing all around us?
O God open our unseeing eyes to all you want us to see in the world around us and to see your plan for our lives!
Jim Jensen
