May 03, 2013
The Hand
Glaucoma has left my 60 year-old cousin blind in one eye. Unfortunately last
week he had to have surgery on his good eye and there were complications. He is
now in danger of losing his eyesight and he’s scared to death. I can imagine Paul
and Elymas (the sorcerer) having similar emotions when they were blinded (Acts
9:9, 13:11). After being blinded Paul’s companions led him by the hand to
Damascus, while Elymas groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. We
know that physically and spiritually Jesus is the One who opens the eyes of the
blind, but I’m not sure that we recognize that we too have a role to play
amongst the blind. Those who are groping about seeking someone to lead them may
be in need of our hand. “The LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD
lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.” (Psalm
146:8 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I’ve heard comments from blind folks to the effect that they see better once blind than they did previously. The eyes are the broadest avenue for the flow of information into the mind. So the bigger part of our consciousness is visualization. The abundant usage of that word testifies to this truth. Have you ever been encouraged to audibalize world peace? Imagine hearing all the “Huh’s?” such a statement might make. And notice “audibalize” isn’t even a word; I don’t think I know a word for such a concept. “The eye is the lamp of the body,” said our Maker.
-----The mind is just like water and electricity. They all seek the path of least resistance. This isn’t to say that path is good. In fact, it is quite chaotic. To make usefulness of water we must put it through pipes to force it to go where it would definitely not go otherwise. We have to use rubber, plastic, porcelain, and other high resistant materials to keep electricity in the wires forcing it to where it would not otherwise go. Although the world is full of water and electricity like the mind is full of information, all these are useless lest they be tamed and applied to a task. But the visual part of consciousness keeps the mind running helter-skelter. The majority of the people traveling the wide road to destruction are like the chaos of unchanneled water and electricity. Their minds flow from situation to situation without the fundamental purposes revealed by God because their lamps are too full of the world‘s sites. So, although they can see to not step in the dog doo, they can not see to not become the dog doo. They need a hand for this, like a wire needs insulation.
-----Although none of us who do see both ways can take any one of them by the hand throughout their days, each of us taking their hands while they’ve momentarily pulled up beside us shines a bit of truth. And it’s the moment that you hold another’s hand that is your part in their story. Even if this point of clarity by your grip is a minor part of that moment’s story, it is yet significant because truth has a distinct polarity. Every grip of like polarity the wanderer experiences piques his curiosity about purpose and his suspicion about chaos.
-----So, by taking hands even momentarily we leave effects upon the minds of others. I used to think that I was laid bare by God’s ability to know my every thought and feeling. This didn’t scare me. It made me feel safe. It gave me direction in trying to achieve higher degrees of honesty between what I think and what I do. But not long ago, I woke up to what should have been obvious to me long ago. I am not the only person whose thoughts God discerns from afar. I am not the only person whose every word is known by God before it comes upon the tongue. He searches out everyone’s paths and is acquainted with all their ways and knows all their thoughts more intimately than even they do. Therefore, God knows me not only by my thoughts, He knows me even more clearly by the thoughts and feelings I’ve caused in others. That is why even the most minor part of a moment’s story the grasp I take of another’s hand might be, it is yet a very significant bit of true information about what I am expressed to God upon the tablet of another’s heart.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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