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.