Devotionals

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Life has a way of placing blinders over our eyes at times. Whether the blinders consist of circumstances, pain, fears, or doubts, they can keep us from really seeing.

I will never forget the blindness I was suffering with during my honeymoon. I had just married the man of my dreams and should have been seeing sunshine and roses, but instead I was blinded by fear. Up until that point in my life, my family had grown accustomed to trials and pain. I had learned how to suffer well and always found refuge in the arms of my Everlasting Father, but I struggled to enjoy the present when things were going well.

As I began a new life with my new husband, I couldn’t help but think that things were just too good to be true at the time. As I strained my eyes to see what our future together might hold, all I could see was a dark, scary blur. Trying to anticipate the future was frightening, not being able to anticipate it was horrifying, but what was most terrifying was the blindness that kept me from seeing the present.

I was on a sandy Caribbean beach with a wonderful man, sun shine beating down on us and crystal blue ocean waves crashing in all around us, but I was blind to it. My fear of the future had blinded me from seeing the beauty of the present.

There’s a wonderful story in the gospels about a blind man named Bartimaeus. I think we can learn from Bartimaeus and how he had his sight restored. Bartimaeus was sitting by the road begging. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he began crying out to him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” People tried to hush him up, but that caused him to cry out even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” Finally, Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, and he replied, “I want to regain my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.”

Two things stand out to me about the part that Bartimaeus played in having his own sight restored. Jesus’ words, “Receive your sight,” imply that it was something that Bartimaeus had to take hold of, rather than something that Jesus had to give.

Yes, Jesus gave him his sight, but if he wouldn’t have done his part to receive it he would have remained blind.

Secondly, it was Bartimaeus’ faith that made him well. Specifically, it was his faith in WHO JESUS WAS. It stuck out to me that he was referring to Jesus as Son of David. Son of David was used 17 times in the New Testament in reference to Jesus when people were seeking mercy or healing from him. When the people cried out to him as Son of David, they were proclaiming their faith in Him as the Messiah.

So I ask you, what’s blinding you today, and keeping you from seeing clearly in the present? Is it your circumstances?

Pain?

Fear or doubt?

What if we, like Bartimaeus, choose to proclaim our faith that God is God; that He is who he says he is, and receive our sight by faith?

Jesus came to make the blind see. He’s given us sight! Let us all receive it!

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