I love my early morning walks. That’s how I get tuned in to Him. I prefer the dark – slight dark, because I’m less distracted. But, this past Sunday, I was a little late getting started. It was full on sun – shades required. I walked down Poor House to the tractor road between the two fields. The fields are now planted and I was checking it out. On one side of this tractor road are the woods, on the other soybeans.
When I’m out walking I’m always on the alert. That’s just smart, to be on the lookout for the things that could be dangerous and frankly, things I’m afraid of. Now a couple of my fears in life, things I’m super afraid of, are MRI machines (which I didn’t know until I was in one) and snakes (just yuck!). On a daily basis I have other fears, but if someone asked me what am I most afraid of right now, those are the two things that top the list. Since I’m pretty sure there are no MRI machines out in our fields, I’m looking for snakes. Yuck!
I was bebopping along and I saw something that made me start. I was so scared. For a minute I was not just breathing the morning air, I was gasping, big gulps and holding. I leaned in, craned my long neck, did I just see what I thought I saw? I jumped back. I did the crane-jump thing a couple of times. I just wasn’t sure of what I saw. But what I thought I saw struck cold fear in me. Then, I took off my shades, and I could clearly see. Ahhhh! It was this big, ugly, curled up…stick!
As I walked on my muscles relaxing, my heartrate returning to somewhat normal, I started thinking about that stick. If I hadn’t had my sunglasses on, I would have been able to see it clearly. I would have known right off the bat that it was not a snake but a stick. My vision was darkened. I had put on shades to dim the light. Taking the shades off allowed me to see clearly what was right in front me. We’ve all worn shades to keep the sun out. The problem is those shades actually do dim the Light. We wear all sorts of stylish shades, things that dim the Light. The shades of busyness, the shades of attitude, the shades of lack of commitment, the shades of fear, the shades of a hard heart, the shades of pride, the shades of disobedience. We may have multiple pairs of shades. All these stylish shades hide the Light and keep us from seeing God clearly.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
Only the Light of Heaven, Jesus, can remove all the clouds, the darkness, the shade that hides the Light of God’s face from us. We know that we will only have perfect clarity, that we will only be able to see things clearly, when we see Him face-to-face. We know that when He returns all things will be clear, we will be complete, we will be able to see with God’s perspective. Until then, with God’s help, we shed our shades. We take those things that are blinding us – blocking out the Light, shading the Light, making the Light dim, obstructing our view and only giving us partial vision – and ask God to heal us.
When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.
The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.”
Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25
This is the only healing in the Bible that took place in stages. Light healing from our life shades, those things that filter the Light, may be instant, but enlightenment may also be gradual, you know, step-by-step. Just like with the blind man, spiritual truth is not always perceived clearly at first. The Bible is replete with the truths of the Lord reiterated regularly for our refinement. His Word repeatedly reminds us of His truths! As we grow in relationship with Him, the dimness gives way to His Light. The shades come off little-by-little. The more we allow the Lord to work in us to remove our stylish shades, the more Light will be revealed. Jesus will give us perfect sight so that we can see. He will make things abundantly clear. We just need to remove our shades.