Irritated to See

Are you willing to accept irritation if it leads to seeing clearly?  Failing to see clearly can be fatal.

Text for Today – John 9:7 – And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Think about this picture; Jesus encountered a blind man. He made up clay with dirt from the ground and His Own spittle.  He then anointed, or rubbed that gritty solution onto the eyeballs of the blind man, and then told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

That could almost be considered an act of cruelty, but for the outcome.  How sensitive is the surface of your eye?  Even blind people’s eyes are sensitive to gritty particles rubbing against the surface of their eyes.  Add to that the fact that the man is blind.  He can’t see the pool of Siloam, but rather has to find it by whatever means he can.  So here is a blind man searching for a pool he cannot see while his eyes are irritated beyond imagination.  (Have you ever had your eyes filled with dust and grit?  I have, and it is tormenting, even through the process of washing out all the foreign matter.)  Yet when the man obeyed the Lord and washed in the pool of Siloam, he came away seeing and glorifying God.

I’ve a question for you.  Have you ever been blinded by something; a certain situation, or a problem, or what seemed to be a hopeless need?  Have you had someone come to you and speak the Word of God to you, only to have it irritate you because it required something from you that was extremely uncomfortable?  Then you were in the same condition as the blind man in our Text for Today.  You already know the outcome.  If you received that Word, regardless of how irritating it was, and walked according to it, you came seeing; your answer was revealed to you. 

How about today?  Are you or someone you know in one of those predicaments right now?  If so, then expect the possibility of being irritated.  If the Word spoken to you seems a little rough and irritating, receive it anyway and obey what the Lord says.  He wants you to see clearly.  It’s when you see clearly that He receives the greatest honor, for when you see clearly, your testimony is clear and unmistakable.  The Lordship of Jesus is made manifest to the glory of God, and others are made to know the reality of the power and ability of God.

Manna for Today – 1 Samuel 15; 1 John 5:3; Matthew 7:24-27; Matthew 25:1-10