Wednesday, May 29,
2013, 6:45 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “In Faithfulness He Leads Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read John 9
(NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%209&version=NIV
As
he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,
who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither
this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the
works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the
works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in
the world, I am the light of the world.”
After
saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it
on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word
means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
…They
brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus
had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the
Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my
eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
Some
of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the
Sabbath.”
…A
second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by
telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
He
replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then
they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He
answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to
hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
Then
they hurled insults at him… And they threw him out.
Jesus
heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you
believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who
is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus
said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then
the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus
said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and
those who see will become blind.”
Some
Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind
too?”
Jesus
said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you
claim you can see, your guilt remains.
But This Happened
In
Psalm 139:16 we read, “… all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.” In Rom. 8:29 we read, “For those God foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…,” and in Eph. 1:11-12
we read, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the
plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for
the praise of his glory.”
God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives. We
may not always understand his purposes in the things we go through in this
life, but he allows and permits and even plans our lives to go a certain way,
and all for his purposes, will, and glory. And, that is what Jesus expressed
concerning the man who was born blind. He was not born blind as a result of his
or his parents’ sin, but so God could display his works in the man’s life.
Awesome! And, he did that, too! That man had one of the greatest testimonies of
faith I have ever heard, and yet so simple. I think sometimes we are reluctant
to share our faith because we feel as though we don’t know enough, and yet this
man just shared what he knew, and it wasn’t much, but what he shared was
revolutionary! Once he was blind, and now he could see! Amen! He didn’t have
all the answers, but he knew Jesus changed his life. So cool!
So, what this teaches us is to trust in God’s purposes and
plans for our lives, even if we don’t understand everything that has happened
or that is happening in our lives presently. This means that we yield to his
purposes and that we choose to believe in him and to walk in faithful obedience
to him even when we don’t understand everything, and even when we can’t see the
light sometimes for the darkness. The light is still there, and the light
(Jesus) will lead us and guide us into all truth, and will show us the way we
should go.
Go and Wash
It was God’s will that this man be healed of his blindness,
so Jesus spat on the ground, made mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and then told
him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. The man went and washed and came home
seeing. I find this really interesting and intriguing as to the manner in which
Jesus chose to heal this man. He could have just said, “Be healed,” or he could
have just touched him and healed him. After all, he was (is) God! Yet, if we
think in terms of the spiritual parallels to us being healed of spiritual
blindness, it makes sense, for Jesus said that if anyone would come after him,
he must deny himself (his self-life), take up his cross daily (die daily to sin
and self), and follow (obey) him. In other words, faith is not just something
we think or feel, but it is evidenced by what we do in response to what Christ
did for us, and in obedience to Christ and to his commands.
Some people questioned how this man was healed of his
blindness. Others doubted that this was the same man who used to sit begging.
They asked him how his eyes were opened, so he told them what happened. Then,
they asked the location of Jesus, but the man didn’t know. So, they brought him
to the Pharisees, and they, too, questioned him. Jesus had healed this man on
the Sabbath, which was a “No-no” in the eyes of the Pharisees, although they
would circumcise babies and would rescue sheep on the Sabbath, so they were
hypocritical in their judgments of Jesus, and just looked for reasons to accuse
him because they didn’t like his messages, because they were hard messages, and
because they exposed their own wickedness and threatened their power centers. Jesus
said they were like white-washed tombs – clean on the outside, but inside they
were full of greed and self-indulgence.
You Did Not Listen
Have you ever had someone ask you the same question several
times even after you have answered the question each time? And, did you say to
the person, “You are not listening!”? Well, that is the situation here between
the blind man and the Pharisees. It wasn’t that they couldn’t hear the man, or
that they didn’t physically hear the words coming out of the man’s mouth, but
they weren’t really listening, i.e. it appears they didn’t like the answer so
they hoped if they asked it again that maybe they would get a different
response. Or, it could be they were just trying to intimidate the man because
they could, and because they didn’t like it that Jesus had healed the man. So,
when they didn’t get the response or answer they had hoped for, then they took
to insulting the man. Yet, the man did not waver in his faith. Amen! He stood
strong on the testimony, not only that Jesus had healed him, but that Jesus was
obviously a righteous man, for if Jesus were not from God, he could not have
healed him. Makes perfect sense! The man had simple child-like faith, and that
faith saved him.
When we come to Jesus with that kind of child-like faith,
and we believe his words to us, and we share the testimony of our heart
transformation and of his true gospel, there will be those who will hate us, reject
us, insult us, question our testimony, try to intimidate us, and some will even
throw us out of their institutions (churches) of men. Yet, Jesus will be there
for us, just like he was for the man he had healed of his blindness. He will
teach us his ways, encourage our hearts, help us to grow in our faith, comfort
us with his love and kindness, and he will open our blinded eyes so that we can
see the light of life, have understanding of his truths, and so we can recognize
the works of the evil one.
Are we blind too?
The Pharisees wanted to know if Jesus was saying that they
were blind. I can imagine that his answer surprised them, for he told them that
their guilt was not a result of their spiritual blindness, but a result of the
fact that they were deceived into thinking that they could see, and thus they
could not have their eyes opened, because they didn’t see their need for Jesus
or for his salvation. They thought their own righteousness and their works
would save them, despite the wickedness in their hearts, but they thought wrong.
The only way we can come to salvation is to recognize our own spiritual
blindness (our sin), and to acknowledge our need for the Savior and to be
healed of our blindness, then, when we trust in Jesus, by faith, as did the man
whom Jesus had healed, then we can say with the man, “Once I was blind, but now
I see!” Once I was trapped in the pit of sin, but Jesus delivered me and he set
me free, so I no longer have to be in slavery to sin but can walk in his
righteousness!!
In Faithfulness He
Leads Me / An Original Work / March 20, 2013
Based off Various
Scriptures
(Ps. 26:3; 86:11; 91:4-5; 111:7-8; 119:73-76;
Is. 25:1,4&9; 42:6-7; Hos. 2:16-20)
Teach me Your ways,
Lord, and I’ll walk in them.
Give me a pure heart.
I’ll fear Your name.
Your love is always,
ever before me.
Continually I’ll walk
in Your truth.
You will cover me with
feathers.
Under Your wings I’ll
find refuge.
My Lord’s faithfulness
will be my
Comfort and my shield.
The works of His hands
are faithful and just.
Trustworthy are all of
His precepts.
Your hands have made
me, and they have formed me.
Give understanding of
Your commands.
I have put my hope, O
Lord, in Your word.
Your teachings, O Lord,
are righteousness.
Lord, in faithfulness
You have
Afflicted me so I may
learn of
Your unfailing love
and comfort
And Your truthfulness.
You are my husband;
You have betrothed me
In love, compassion
and faithfulness.
O Lord, You are my
God, I’ll exalt You.
In faithfulness You’ve
done wondrous things.
You’ve been a refuge
for those who’re needy;
A shelter in storms;
shade from the heat.
This is the Lord, we
trusted in Him,
Let us be glad and
rejoice
In His salvation which
He
Provided through the
Lamb.
Open the blind eyes;
free all the captives.
Tell them of Jesus:
“Be born again!”
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