Skip to main content

Feeling Blind? Proceed with Faith

We often have challenges that only the Great Healer can fix. Those challenges can be physical or spiritual. Many times we want to tell the Lord when or how we want to be healed. We must remember that the healing takes place in the Lord’s time and in his own way. In Isaiah 55:9, the Lord reminds us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Today I wish to focus on the “how” of the healing by referring to one of Christ’s miracles in the New Testament. John 9 recounts the story of Jesus healing a blind man. My professor, Brother Griffin, gave some interesting insight into the “how” of the miracle.

Jesus passed by a man who had been blind from birth. He spit on the ground and made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind man. Brother Griffin had us imagine what it must have felt like to be the blind man and hear someone spit right next to you and then shove mud in your eyes. I would personally be a little upset at first. As a blind man, I would already feel somewhat oppressed and picked on. Having someone put mud in my eyes would likely only make me more agitated.

After putting mud in the man’s eyes, Christ told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. Brother Griffin pointed out that this body of water was at least eight hundred yards down a treacherous hill. Imagine how difficult it would have been for this blind man to navigate the steep and treacherous terrain and do as the Master commanded.

The blind man faithfully did what Jesus told him to and he was healed. This man showed a great deal of humility and faith. He may not have understood fully what the outcome of the muddy eyes and washing would be, but he went blindly (literally) and took steps of faith until the miracle was accomplished.


What is the take away for you and me? Sometimes we may be asked to endure things that are difficult or don’t make sense on our road to healing. Jesus Christ always strives to strengthen our faith through our trials. The next time we are faced with a difficult trial or we don’t understand fully why Christ makes us go through the things he does, let us remember the blind man and proceed with faith.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cave of Mental Illness

This is an essay I wrote in the Winter 2014 Semester for my Western Humanities class. I felt like I needed to share it. It is a bit long, but I assure you it's worth your time. Also, take some time to watch the quick video at the end. Jacob Hansen Professor Julie Ransom IHUM 201 Connection to Major 10 April 2014 The Cave of Mental Illness A mere seven months ago I had a different perception of reality. I found myself, as psychologist Kay Jamison puts it, “ enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind ” (68). I, like Jamison, suffer from bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed about twenty months into my mission. Though I was in this cave, during the manic episode I experienced I felt more creative and energetic than I ever had. I felt little need to sleep and could think and make connections very quickly. I understood the world differently than others, and, so I thought, at a higher level. It was as if I had discovered a new revolutionary way of living and I was conf...
3 comments
Read more

Struggles with Perfectionism

 There are some days when we're just not feeling it. Sometimes we feel that all the cute churchy answers are nice on the outside but that they're really not going to make anything better. Sometimes it feels like wishful thinking. It seems weak.  At times I just want to rest in God's love. I just want to feel my Savior next to me. Sometimes I feel him there. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes there's a lot of negativity towards and around the church. And sometimes I can see why. I do see some things that are troubling. What I always hang on to is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost I've been given. I know that sounds cheesy to some. They don't think it's a real thing. But I have felt peace so many times through the Holy Ghost. I've felt him tell me that Jesus says, "It's all gonna be ok. Just trust. Be patient. Ponder. Let go. Know that I've already paid the price. You don't need to prove anything to me...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hymn A Day: Does the Journey Seem Long? #127

This is a song I particularly love because it has been so relevant to me at the lowest points of my life and at times when I just need to refocus and remember in whom I have trusted when things get rocky. Below is my rendition along with the beautiful lyrics. How grateful I am to have a Savior who can take me by the hand and lead me to new heights. Lyrics 1. Does the journey seem long, The path rugged and steep? Are there briars and thorns on the way? Do sharp stones cut your feet As you struggle to rise To the heights thru the heat of the day? 2. Is your heart faint and sad, Your soul weary within, As you toil 'neath your burden of care? Does the load heavy seem You are forced now to lift? Is there no one your burden to share? 3. Let your heart be not faint Now the journey's begun; There is One who still beckons to you. So look upward in joy And take hold of his hand; He will lead you to heights that are new-- 4. A land ho...
Post a Comment
Read more