WHAT DO YOU SEE?
John Lubbock once said this about human perspective: “What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. In the same field, farmers will notice the crop, geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the coloring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.”
Sociologists suggest that our very self or ‘nature’ is very much a social construct that determines how we see and respond to things. Most of us are not conscious of how much our choices, decisions, and life trajectories are influenced by society, our education, health, the work that we do, and also the positive and negative attitudes that were inculcated in us from a young.
One day, Jesus asked a blind man the question: “Do you see anything?” [From an account in Mark 8:22-26]. Some villagers had brought the blind man to Jesus and begged for a touch from Him. Scripture left a lot unsaid about their motives and their relationship with the blind man, or how he became blind. Following their request, Jesus led the blind man outside the village – away from his usual surroundings. He then spat on his eyes, touched him, and totally restored his eyesight. After that, He warned the man not to return to the village. What was Jesus trying to show him?
Here are three possible lessons from what transpired:
Lesson 1: Do Not See What Others See
When Jesus took the blind man outside the village, He wanted him to step away from all the familiar sounds and cues he had relied on and learn to have full trust in Jesus - the One who would give him sight - and see things for himself. As any disabled person, he had depended on others and on his sense of hearing, smell, and touch to get around. If he had not been outside the village, he could easily have fallen back on memory recall as well as cues from seeing people around to describe his surroundings instead of using the sight that was coming back to him.
To everyone, His blindness was a handicap that created obvious barriers in his life. He likely lived on the streets in the village where the blind begged for a living. Less obvious was the possibility that he might have gotten lost earlier, relied on strangers to take him home but ended up in the wrong village altogether. This is not unimaginable because Jesus later told him to go home but not re-enter the same village! There is no doubt that once he was outside the village to see it for himself - he would eventually get a clear picture of where he had been stuck at.
In life, when we are stuck in ambiguous situations, it is very tempting to seek out multiple sources of information to help us navigate our options before we decide on an appropriate course of action. Yet, there are God’s setups that look like setbacks that counselors will not see, hirers will not see, medical doctors will not see, labor economists will not see, close friends and family will not see, and even pastors will not see. But God sees everything clearly. He is the one with the bigger picture, greater resources, and better plans than we are capable of producing. The blind man thought his problem was his loss of vision but Jesus knew that he had also lost his way.
Admittedly, prolonged difficulties have a way of scuttling our hopes of change in the right direction. The human mind is indeed finite compared to God’s, yet we can be sure that ‘He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.’ (Daniel 2:22).
Ask God to help you see what you need to see about your life. Believe that He will not leave you in the dark! He is your only trusted guide.
Lesson 2: Do Not See What You Think You See
As suggested earlier, there are many influences in our life that prime the way we see things. We respond not to reality as it is but as we construe it, through the lens of our beliefs and values.
After years of blindness, the initial vision that the blind man saw was blurry images. If he had been born blind, he would never have known what trees or people looked like to even describe them. Surely, seeing people walking around like trees was a significant improvement over the lack of sight he had lived with for so long. He could happily settle for living with partial sight as life would certainly be more bearable.
But Jesus did not leave him either half-blind or with half-sight. The Lord restored his vision till he ‘saw everything clearly’. This shows that God is not a god of half measures.
We, on the other hand, tend to settle for less because we want to play it safe. We pray for jobs that are low-hanging fruits because it makes our faith appear more potent than if we hold out for something bigger that God has placed on our hearts to pursue. In life, we settle for what is socially acceptable rather than commit ourselves to what God wants us to spend our time on. We settle for ambivalence in key relationships rather than improve our ability to have hard conversations so as to deepen the connection. We settle for an ambiguous concept of self and call it self-acceptance. We passively accept the questionable lifestyles and choices of our loved ones and call it patience. In all these instances, we are living like the blind man with an impaired vision that is less than clear.
Don’t settle for less and take mental shortcuts by telling yourself ‘That’s life!’. Instead, ask God for the ability to see the parts of reality that are presently unclear to you.
Lesson 3: See Through The Eyes Of Revelation From The Holy Spirit
As believers, we need to go beyond what our natural eyes can see, beyond intuition, gut feelings, common sense and life experience. Many facets of reality are hidden, together with the best of God’s plans, so that we need the revelation of the Holy Spirit (or spiritual eyes) to see.
The Bible clearly puts it this way: ‘“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” - the things God has prepared for those who love Him - these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.’ (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
The blind man was told not to return to the village – to what he thought was a natural and normal way of living. This is because, with the advantage of perfect eyesight, it became possible for him to do things that he previously could not do. He also had to give up the way of life and old habits he had relied on as a blind person and replace them with new skills for living as a person with sight and a life of new possibilities!
Over and over, God has healed us, provided for us, intervened to turn difficult situations around, sent people to us, picked us up when we fell, and restored broken relationships - not so that we can return to living as before. As much as challenging experiences have a way of blinding our spiritual eyes to see things clearly, when God restores clarity to us, we need to make changes to reflect the new perspective and a different way of life.
Finally, we invite you to pray this prayer: Lord, open my eyes that have been blinded and blurred by challenges and circumstances, and also by what I think I see. Restore my vision, through the eyes of revelation from Your Holy Spirit, that I may see clearly your plans and purposes for my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
