“He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! His neighbours and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?””
John 9:7-10 NLT
A blind person has many disadvantages and amongst them is the lack of ability in making eye contact with someone they are conversing with. For those of us with normal sight, eye contact is something we take for granted, not always appreciating how important it is when we interact with someone. We receive non-verbal feedback, helping us to understand what is being said. Maintaining eye contact demonstrates confidence, giving weight to what we are saying. So often we look into another person’s eyes and it is as though we are looking into their very souls. But a blind person cannot achieve the same results in a conversation unless they learn to compensate in some other way.
Our eyes are a primary source of information, feeding our minds with all that we see. Jesus said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is” (Matthew 6:22-23). We need to process all that comes in through our eyes in a healthy way, discerning what is bad for us so that we can filter it out and leave the good. Eyes that focus on sinful images will end up darkening our souls and shutting out the good things we need to focus on.
A blind person in many ways is unable to allow bad things to enter their eye gate. They can’t watch pornography, or movies that are unwholesome. But their lives are the poorer for being unable to see the good things in life. A sunrise or sunset. The wonderful beauty of flowers in Spring. God created us to have eyes that see all that He has made.
In the account of the blind man, the man’s neighbours were finding it hard to recognise him, because he was now engaging them with his eyes. Whereas before he looked anywhere except at them, he was now focusing on their faces and this new ability transformed him so much that his neighbours were having difficulty recognising him.
God sees all and we cannot escape his gaze. He sees right into our souls, knowing every detail of our lives. And we can look into His face, in faith that the contact through our eyes is a part of our communication with Him. John’s spiritual eyes saw amazing scenes in Heaven, as we read in Revelation. And we too can enjoy a glimpse of Heavenly realms, through the reading of Scripture. Unless our eyes read the Bible we will learn nothing about God and His ways. And in faith we pray, “seeing” with our eyes the positive outcome of our prayers. But in our spirits what are we seeing today? If very little we lift up our eyes and make eye contact with our Heavenly Father. There we will find all we need to see.
Dear Father God. Thank You for all Your good gifts, all Your answers to our prayers, and for Jesus, our wonderful and gracious Saviour. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 