THE MYSTERIES OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” Mark 8:29
Scripture does not say whether Jesus was sad as He asked His disciples this question, “Who do you say that I am?” He was God and understood spiritual blindness. He knew that spiritual eyesight is never completely cured on this earth. Only in heaven will we exclaim, “I never knew you were this glorious.” Or, “I never knew you loved me like this!”
In my ignorance, I can wonder how the disciples could have been blind. They had the advantage of having Jesus with them. They saw him heal leprosy, drive out spiritual oppression, and calm the seas. Yet, Jesus knew that spiritual blindness takes time to clear. It would only be sometime later, after the resurrection, that they would finally grasp His deity and give their lives to tell others about Him.
Just as people can be blind to Jesus, they can also be blind to Jesus in me. Believer, or unbeliever. The ones who struggled the most to see Jesus’ divinity were his own family. Likewise, those who know me best, and the longest, are often blind to the presence of Jesus in me. It’s the nature of hometown dynamics.
There may come a day when family and friends see His Light and take a step back. Just about the time I believe must accept being misunderstood, God will begin to clear the fog. It was He who allowed me to be concealed for a time and it is He who facilitates the unveiling. It’s as if they’ve never seen me before. Comments are taken seriously. Insights are valued. Company is sought after. I shake my head and wonder how this could happen after so many years.
If I live near others who don’t really see me, it’s not necessarily permanent. While I languish under invisibility, God is near. I am in God’s schoolroom where lessons abound. I remember the Old Testament scripture that says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.” Proverbs 25:2 The period of others’ blindness is under the sovereignty of my Heavenly Father. While I am hidden to them, He ‘searches me and knows me.’ Though often rejected by them, ‘He calls me His and has me engraved on the palm of His hands.’
You change the hearts of kings and turn on the lights when it’s time. While I wait, give me the grace You received from Your Father as you walked out Your faith before those who knew You and loved You – and yet didn’t see You. No matter how painful, You are with me and I am known completely. Amen
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellows Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. Romans 11:13
If I believe that my own flesh poses no threat to my spiritual condition anymore, then I just have to experience how powerful my feelings of jealousy can be. I can be offered something, turn it down because it fails to interest me in the slightest, but change my mind when someone nearby considers it a treasure. I’ll be sorry I refused it.
Jealousy can actually work towards something positive, according to Paul. He hopes that a spotlight will be put upon his ministry to the Gentiles for the purpose of making the Jews take notice in order to arouse their jealousy. They had rejected Christ. He had come to them, called them His own, taught in their synagogues, healed many of their people, but in the end, they rejected him. All He offered, they refused. So, before His ascension back into heaven, Jesus sent His disciples to the ends of the earth and extended salvation to the Gentiles. When the Jews watched them embrace Jesus, watched them worship, even give their lives for the privilege of being His, jealousy began to simmer. This was the plan. God wanted, and still wants, the salvation of the Jews so badly that He’s willing to use jealousy to bring them to embrace His Son.
Can jealousy work like that today? I can turn down a church position but then envy the one who does take it and prospers. I can watch others worship with passion and abandon, decide it’s way too out of the box for me, but then struggle with jealousy over their free spirit. I can be spiritually lazy and take communion without emotion but then envy the ones who seem to tremble over the very word ‘communion’.
The first wake up call is that I still fail to understand the depth of my own sin. But God wants my heart so badly that He will even use my own jealousy of others to woo me. May I know a jealousy that saves!
Jealousy can make me want to hurt the one who has what I want. May it only lead me to You, the One who is everything I want. Amen
All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. John 10:8
If we can’t run home today with joy, or even limp home with high levels of confidence, chances are we’ve been robbed blind. Discover what’s missing. Then start looking in places where peace, trust, and affection should abide. False shepherds are rarely peaceful, humble, and gracious.
Show me where I am an easy target for a fast-talking robber. Amen
Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind in Athens alone, so we sent Timothy to establish you in your faith. I Thess 3:1,2
Paul uses some strong heart language here. What is going on? He is writing to a small group of believers in Thessalonica whom he had brought to faith in Christ. But after their conversion, he had to flee for his life and he knew that once he left, they would also be persecuted. What could be the outcome if he left them alone? They might deny their faith. When authorities came knocking on their door and demand that they recant or go to jail, would they still believe that the decision they made to embrace Jesus as the Messiah was a sound one? Would they be strong enough to handle the persecution?
Now Paul is in Athens with Silas and Timothy. If Paul goes back to check on his new converts, he will be killed. He knows that. To use the words “when I could bear it no longer…” is pretty strong language for how worried he is about them.
Has anyone ever worried about you? Overprotective parents who smother the life out of their child will ruin future chances for an “Apostle Paul”. The concern of a mentor might feel like the familiar invasion of boundaries. Straining for independence, legitimate loving concern is pushed away.
More often than not though, this is not our experience though. We live in growing isolation inside the church. We put on our best face, take up a spot in a pew, and rarely reveal how tenuous our faith is. No one knows that they should be worried about us. Imagine, if throughout our lifetime, we were used to getting a phone call that began with, “I could endure it no longer without checking on you.” Many will read this today and cry for the want of it.
This is the level of discipleship that pleases God. If your church doesn’t provide that, either be the catalyst to shake up things or find a church where you can be part of a small group that practices true soul care. Life is hard, disappointments are plentiful, and pressures are nearly unbearable. You must be in a place where others look out for you. There is someone out there, like Paul, who longs to stand there with their arm around your shoulder, cheering you on to stand in truth, and serving you in faithfulness. And what’s equally true is that there are many who need the same from each of us.
Biblical soul care was your intention. What is my part? Amen
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. Genesis 6:114
God’s children are not destined for wrath but eternal life. God’s wrath was about to destroy the earth with a flood but God proclaimed a different outcome for Noah. When the world would groan under the weight of God’s judgment, His child would safely nestle in God’s care.
This is not the last time an ark is mentioned. When the male children of the Hebrews were being slain by Egyptians, God had one mother make a nesting place for her baby amidst the bulrushes of the Nile. The same words for ‘an ark made with pitch’ are used again as she made a ‘floating box made with pitch’ to save her baby, Moses.
God’s purposes, written before time, will always prevail. Even though it may appear that evil has snuffed out God’s promises, His covenant is unshakeable. The end of the story has already been written and God does not have to labor to make it all work out in the end.
What floodwaters are threatening to undo you today? When trouble rushes in like a flood, I can feel that my life is at stake emotionally, even physically. Noah heard the roar of the storm, felt the fury of the wind on his ark, but rode out the storm with confidence. Today, Jesus is my ark, my hiding place .
David said, “The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” When in danger for my life, I run to Him. Like a child who flees to a parent’s room to hide in their embrace during a storm, I run to Christ. Under His wing, I hear His assurances. “Shh, don’t be afraid. I’m here.” Under His wing, He even serves me a banquet in the presence of my enemies. I eat food that He has served up with the most poignant revelation.
I must not listen to voice of my enemy today. He would assure me that I’m doomed. He will tempt me with many ways to self-preserve. Defend myself against accusers. Self-comfort in ways that are not good for me. Force circumstances to work in my favor. All the time, God’s arms are open, He’s stooped down to beckon to the scared small child. “Come!”
Jesus, my ark of safety. Sealed by Your Spirit. I run to You at the sign of the first threat on my life. Amen
