BLESSINGS CORNER
Open my eyes, that I might see!
Recently I had cataract surgery in both eyes and saw that as a lesson for us in our desire to see God in a new way. Paul prayed that our eyes of understanding would be opened to see the riches of things that God has prepared for us who love and follow Him.
We know that the lens in the eyes, over time, can get cloudy and keep us from seeing clearly. The vision of the person is affected and it becomes harder and harder to see. The colors and lights are changed in their appearance, to where nothing less than surgery will restore sight to those who can’t see clearly anymore.
Sometimes the Lord too has to preform radical surgery on us, to allow us to see new things in His Word. As most of you know, the old lens is surgically taken out and a new one is inserted. So the patient then goes through an adjustment period of learning to see with the new lens. Sometimes there are difficult adjustments to be experienced in this process.
There are many things that the Lord Jesus wants us to see and experience in the Kingdom of God.
In Mark 8:22-26, we find the story of the blind man in Bethsaida. It is said that some folks brought a blind man to Jesus, and he begged Jesus to touch him. So He took the man by the hand, and led him out of the town. Stop and think about that for a moment,…Jesus led him away from the people to a quiet place away from the crowds.
Then Jesus does the unthinkable of “spitting on his eyes”, and then put His hands on the man’s eyes and asks him…”what do you see?” The blind man said “I see men like trees, walking.” Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes again and told him to look up. His sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. Sometimes it may take some extra procedures on our eyes by the Lord to see clearly what it is He wants us to see.
In Ephesians 1:18 is a verse that Paul prayed for all of us. “…the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”
When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, one of the things He said to Paul was that he was being sent to open the eyes of the Gentiles. Thus turning them from darkness to light; from the power of Satan to the Power of God. Acts 26:17-18.
Isn’t it interesting that Paul, after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was struck blind. He had to go into the city being led by others and remained blind for three days. Then God spoke to a man by the name of Ananias and told him to go and pray for Paul for his eyes to be healed. Acts 9:1-19
In Psalms 119:18 is a cry from the writer of this Psalm, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your Law.”
In Proverbs 29:13, We are told that God has given to mankind light to see with their eyes.
There are many scriptures about the eyes and about what we see and don’t see. Yet, our God the creator of these bodies has blessed us with natural eyes, and spiritual eyes.
When we become “born again”, we now have a set of eyes that can focus on heavenly things and we see differently than we have ever seen before. We are like the blind man and Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us away from the “crowd” and uses different means to open our eyes so we can see clearly.
Some of you may ask what happens if our eyes become dull and we can’t see clearly anymore. How does HE perform spiritual surgery on our eyes? These questions are difficult to answer as each one of is unique and HE deals with us in various ways. But, in my life, sometimes circumstances have brought about drastic changes in my life and they were not pleasant to go through, just like surgery. Yet, the end results are supposed to leave us better than before. There may be pain, suffering, loss, yet afterwards, it will produce a better way of life. In Revelation 3:18, Jesus counsels to anoint our eyes with eye salve, that we can see.
I am reminded of an old chorus we use to sing in church. “Open my eyes that I might see, visions of things you have for me, open my eyes that I might see, Spirit Divine,”
So our prayer should be for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes. There are visions for all of us to see and to experience in this journey with the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
~Gerry Cooley