Another week is gone and a new one has started, all praise be to God. The above picture image contains the chorus to a Christian hymn I sang a lot in Sunday school as a young child. It was true then and still holds true today. In the past week, God spoke to my heart on something that is very important, i.e. putting to practice the word of God. I was led to read the book of Ezekiel 33:30-32 and was real convicted within me. I asked myself if indeed I am putting into practice all I read in the bible, messages & teachings I listen to or sermons that are preached in Church. For instance, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."
There are so many things God expects from us but one of the most important is our obedience. It is best to always obey God's instruction. Putting into practice the word of God involves obedience. Am trying to learn to express my thanks in every circumstance more often than before because it is God's will. So, I encourage you today to begin to really put into practice what God says.
BEHIND THE SCENES - CAN YOU DO WHAT HE DID?
Life without sight. Not being able to use that sense. Forces you to compensate with all the other senses, Acute hearing. Extra Sensitive touch and smell. I have talked with many people who lost their sight at one time or another. They find it very hard to adjust, especially the young ones. They find it difficult to trust the other senses. I never had that problem. I was born blind. Never saw the sun or my mother’s face. So I am better adjusted. But I still think that those who had vision before, for however short a period had a better deal. At least they know the colors of a rainbow even if they cannot see it now. I have never seen a color, so I imagine it. I imagine blue to be velvety, yellow to be silky and red? Red is the color of blood. It hurts when I bleed, which I frequently do, from falls and scrapes, so red is a painful kind of color. Sort of metallic.
Black? Black is a color I know very well. It’s the only color I can actually see. I guess white would be the opposite of black. I can only just comprehend colors and then I find there are various shades of each color; a lighter red, a deeper yellow. This is beyond my comprehension. But I do know sounds. I know sounds very well. I know when the footsteps I hear bear malice toward me. I know the steps of those coming to push me down or to pull me up. I know when I approach people who like me, or those who pity me, or even those who dislike me. The way their voices change when they address me. The way they fidget and move their feet and body.
I usually run from crowds. I don’t really do public gatherings very well. There is always a mix of people there and I get very uncomfortable. When so many people talk and move at the same time, it’s harder to separate voices and people and so I can’t read them well. So when I heard a crowd of people coming down the street that day, I decided to leave. Move to a less noisy area. I made up my mind, but somehow, I couldn’t get my feet to move. So I stayed by the roadside, hoping I would not get pushed down in the melee as the people approached. Then I heard someone ask “what about this blind man? What did he do wrong or maybe his parents? What sin brought this about?” Sin. Why were they asking about my sin? I had lived with the punishment of my unknown sin all my life. Some even said I must have done something really bad in a past life to be so punished in this one. Now my sin was a matter of public debate?
Then I heard a quiet voice reply. “Wrong question. You are looking for someone to blame. There is no cause –effect here. Look instead for what God can do.” I didn’t understand his words, but they filled me with peace. Like a cool shower, on a hot summer day. I was not blind because of a sin. It was not a punishment. What God can do? I felt he had already done it now. I actually felt clean.
That’s when I felt a hand rubbing something into my eyes. I tried to push him away. What kind of a joke was this? Then I heard the man say in that quiet voice, ‘Go and wash in the pool of Sent’. I would not, no, could not disobey that voice, so I went.
I got to the pool and washed my face, and my eyes began to hurt. Not the usual numbing hurt I was used to. This was a fiery type of hurt, like I was standing before an open flame. There was too much light in my eyes. Then I blinked and realized there was a difference in the colors. I could see light and dark. When my eyes were closed, I could see my familiar dark. But when I opened them? The tree with leaves. That was the color green. The water in the pool. That must be blue. Not how I thought blue would be at all. I looked around and saw different colors of people. They looked different. Even their hair color was different. The Sky, the sun. Yes, that was the color yellow. I continued gazing fervently at people and things around me, trying to place all the colors I had never seen. I could recognize shapes as I had touched and felt them long enough, but colors? Colors were amazing.
I began to be aware of an increasing murmur around me. People had realized that I could see and were shouting. At the back of my mind, I wondered why the shouts. I walked back home, not needing my stick, walking slowly, savoring the colors along the way. When I got home, some family members came to visit, to confirm the rumors they had heard. Could I really see? I looked at them. I could see them looking at me, looking at them. Oh, the joy!
Some others walked up to me and told me, that I could not be me, I was just a look alike. I laughed out loud at that. I thought they all looked alike before. I was beginning to see the differences in them, and they thought I was a look alike? Who was supposed to be blind here? I told them I was me. Really Me. And they marveled. I told them a man named Jesus had done this to me, but I didn’t know where he had gone to.
They took me to the community leaders, who asked me again what had happened to me. I told them all I knew. Then they began to argue among themselves. He worked on a Sabbath, so he was evil. He opened blind eyes so he was good. They were undecided, and came back to me and asked me who I thought he was. I told them he was a prophet. Then they called me a fraud. They sent me away saying I was only pretending. All these years of walking with a white stick and it was a pretense? They called my parents who told them that all they knew was that I had been born blind, and now I could see, but they didn’t know the how or why of the issue. My parents told them to ask me what had happened
So they called me back. This time, knowing that they could not doubt that a supernatural thing had happened, they asked me to give God the glory and I did. They also asked me to denounce Jesus. That I couldn’t do. God healed me, but through this Jesus. So I told them again. I told them that the only thing I knew for sure was that I was blind, but now, I see. They were persistent and told me that they knew nothing of this Jesus and he could not have done anything. I got upset and shouted back ‘This is amazing. You may not know this man, but he healed me. It has never happened that a man blind from birth is healed, but now it has. We know God does not hear sinners, but only righteous men, so I believe he is from God. Can any of you do what he did?”
They found it difficult to believe or accept so they threw me out. I looked for Jesus and when I found him, he told me he was the messiah, come to heal and save the lost. It was not difficult for me to believe. I could literally see his work in my life. So I believe.
The above write up has stuck with me ever since I read it and decided to share it. It's one of Jesus miracles, story of the man born blind and how God was glorified in him. To read more of behind the scenes go to : http://deelifeandlove.blogspot.com/
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