Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - BLIND

BLIND

It is hard to conceive of a more disabling medical condition than that of being completely blind. Not being able to see and appreciate the wonders of life around us could be both devastating and challenging; although many are able to overcome most of the difficulties encountered. But probably even worse than not being able to see is not being willing to see. 

John Hayward in 1546 summed this up well when he stated that:

There are none so blind as those who will not see.*

The same thought is stated in Jeremiah when God says:

…O foolish people, 

without understanding, 

Who have eyes and see not,

And who have ears and hear not… 

(Jeremiah 5:21)

And, also in Matthew 13 when Jesus says:

…I speak to them in parables,

because seeing they do not see, 

and hearing they do not hear, 

nor do they understand. 

(Matthew 13:13)

Perhaps part of the reason we often seem unwilling to see is because we have, in part, been conditioned that way. In Deuteronomy, we are told the curses that may befall us if we have been disobedient to the Lord’s commands.

But it shall come to pass, 

if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God…

 

…cursed shall you be…

The Lord will strike you with madness 

and blindness and confusion of heart.

And you shall grope at noonday, 

as a blind man gropes in darkness; 

you shall not prosper in your ways…

no one shall save you. 

(Deuteronomy 28:15,16, 28, 29)

Does this explain, since all have sinned, why the disciples seemed to not understand what Jesus was trying to teach them? After they had seen all that Jesus had done during His travels in Judea and the Decapolis, they still did not seem to grasp the main point He was trying to make. He in fact said:

…Do you not yet perceive nor understand?

Is your heart still hardened?

Having eyes, do you not see?… 

(Mark 8:17,18)

And yet are we not the same? Are we not aware of the attributes of God and the wonders He performs for us each day? Are there not small miracles every day all around us? These may not fall into the same category as feeding thousands with only a few small bread loaves and a few fish, but still miracles nonetheless. As it states in Romans:

…since the creation of the world 

His invisible attributes are clearly seen, 

being understood by the things that are made…

so that they [man] are without excuse… 

(Romans 1:20)

But men…

…[p]rofessing to be wise, they became fools, 

…[and] exchanged the truth of God for the lie, 

and worshiped and served the creature 

rather than the Creator… 

(Romans 1:22,25)

Because man refuses to acknowledge what is so plainly in front of him, the world ends up in its present situation; with madness and blindness. Man gropes around in the darkness of his confusion, never really prospering, and wondering if the world at all can be saved.

It is really quite true; there are none so blind as those who will not see.

Certainly something to think about.

*Proverb documented by Hayward in 1546.