The Blind

             I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. (Isaish 42:16)

 

I need this today. You might, too. Your first response might be “But I’m not blind.” Can you see the future? Someone on Facebook shared a poem a girl  wrote about what  we’d do if people had signs over their heads telling their current sources of pain. The truth is that we would stop going out so no one could see ours, or we would grow very callous, or we would never look above another person’s chest. We could not cope otherwise in a world where everyone’s issues were visible to us. So, for good reason, we are blind to much of what is going on around us. And let’s add that one more bit of blindness we all tend to have. How many times have you looked for something that turned out to be “right there”? When God says that He will lead the blind by a way they do not know, it applies to us.

But what we don’t see (yep!) as we protest that we can see is that God doesn’t extend this promise to those who can see. He only offers to lead the blind. He only promises to give light to, make the rough places smooth for, and not forsake those who are blind. And who among us could not use light in dark places, plowed roads instead of icy ruts, detours, and landslides in our path, and a loyal friend who won’t forsake us when the going gets rough or we don’t happen to measure up to His demands. Our failure was the reason for Jesus’ death and resurrection, so His promise is not null and void because we fail. Check out Romans6, 7, and 8.

There are times that we feel forsaken. I suspect I’m not unlike other people when I tend to feel forsaken if anything goes wrong in my life. Even more so when I think I’m responsible for the things going wrong. But these feelings are often cases of our being blind.