Skip to main content

A Prescription for Blurry Vision



            Have you ever been at a place in life where you look at your circumstances and say, “I don’t get it”?  What do you do when things seem a little out of control and the outcome is unknown?   Mark 8 contains a reminder that may help.

            One day, Jesus was going through the little fishing village of Bethsaida when a group of people brought a blind man to him.  This was not unusual.  Almost everywhere Christ went people came for healing.  What makes this incident notable is the way in which Jesus heals this man.

            Jesus took the man, spit on his eyes, put his hands on him and then asked, “Do you see anything?” (Verse 23).

            The man responded, “I see people; they look like trees walking around” (verse 24).

            “Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (verse 25).

            Many times, Jesus healed people with a single touch, or with a word, but in this case he heals this man “progressively”; a little bit at a time.  The man goes from having no vision, to seeing things in a blurry way, to having his sight fully restored in a series of steps.

            What is true of physical healing in this incident can also be said about Spiritual healing.  Sometimes people come to spiritual healing and sight very quickly.  Other times, it takes a long drawn out process before people see with any spiritual clarity at all.  Sometimes things are quickly clear and, yet other times the blurriness can last a long time.

            The key in either case is simply to let God work.  Honour the process that you are in by giving it time to work itself out.  If we demand answers too quickly, or if we push our own will into the picture, we can short-circuit the very thing that God is trying to do in us.

            Lately there are several things in my life that are sort of “blurry”.  I do not see them very well yet.  I do not understand why these things are happening or even what good they could produce.  However, this incident reminds me that God, his Son and his Spirit do things in their own way and that they bring their blessings in their own time.

            Knowing that Jesus sometimes brings his healing in stages allows me wait, to be patient and to expect a good outcome no matter how blurry things look now.
 
            “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways”, declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Consider This: Who Needs Worship?

  Why does God need our worship? The events of Matthew 14 provide at least one answer.   This chapter starts with the beheading of John the Baptist (verses 1-12). This is the first in a series of events that indicate things are about to become much more difficult for the believers. Next, the scene shifts to a crowd gathered on a hillside in Galilee. After listening to Jesus teach all day, the apostles realized that these people had nothing to eat. They brought the problem to Jesus. He took a child’s lunch and fed the entire group of five thousand men plus women and children. Afterwards, they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers (verses 13-21).   Then Jesus told them to get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. As they went, a storm arose, and the apostles were scared. They struggled along until Jesus came to them walking on the water. Peter tried walking on the water too and sank. After Jesus rescued Peter, they got into the boat, and the storm immediately s...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Spiritual Makeover (1 Peter 1:13-16)

 Three responses to the new life God has given us.  https://youtu.be/FmqX5-3jOKc  
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Something to Hold On To

      If you have never stopped to see the Swinging Bridge in Souris, Manitoba, you should add it to your list of things to do. I like it. Others do not. It feels wobbly. It bounces up and down. I have seen people in the middle of the bridge holding on and screaming because it feels too unstable. Of course, there is nothing to fear. The bridge has huge anchors at each end and is secured by steel cables, but sometimes, our feelings make us forget the facts. Peter knows that his readers are about to face some scary situations. He does not want their feelings to obscure everything else, so he outlines three truths they need to remember. First, their hope is greater than their troubles. “For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold… may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Not...
Post a Comment
Read more