Now I See

I was sitting in the window seat of the conference room at Glyndley Manor listening to teaching that was taking place, when I heard a woodpecker drumming in a tree. It was a very persistent woodpecker, so I turned, and easily saw it pecking away in the top of a dead tree. It wasn’t a common green woodpecker, but a rarer, lesser spotted woodpecker. As I sat there I remembered how I often heard woodpeckers as a child, when we lived in rural Surrey, but rarely saw them. We had a bird book on the bookshelf with a picture of a green woodpecker, and how much I wanted to see one in the wild. But as a child I never saw one, even though I looked very hard when I heard them drumming. Nowadays I see them quite a lot, both in the trees and on the ground, foraging for tasty morsels to eat. And I’ve noticed I can spot them quite easily now.

All of us have been blind and are still blinded in some areas to truth - the truth of who God is as revealed through Jesus, the truth of who we are and the truth of how He see us. Maybe we’ve heard the truth but haven’t been able to see it. Perhaps what we’ve heard doesn’t match the experience of our lives, or the feelings we have deep inside. We may even know what truth looks like in the lives of others, and yet we can’t see it for ourselves. I knew what a woodpecker sounded and looked like, but could never see one for myself.

As I pondered these thoughts I was reminded of Bartimaeus, who was a blind beggar. This man would sit on the side of the road asking people for money, grateful for whatever people gave to him. Most people would have passed him by without so much as a bye or leave, but his life was dependent on those who did give to him. Then one day he heard a large crowd of people and found out it was Jesus, so he cried out “Son of David, have mercy on me!” As people tried to shut him up he shouted louder. Jesus then asked for Bartimaeus to be called, and asked him “What do you want Me to do for you?” To us this might sound like a strange question to ask a blind man, and the reply was “I want to regain my sight!” Through faith he did receive his sight, his eyes were opened and he followed Jesus on the road.

Jesus asks today what we would like Him to do for us, and even though our need might seem obvious, He still asks. And just like Bartimaeus we need to be willing to answer Jesus honestly, and ask Him to bring sight to the area of our life which is blind to Him. The more truth we seek, the more truth we will see, until we’re able to see truth easily and frequently, and pick it out from the lies. I no longer just hear woodpeckers, I can see them.

‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ John 8: 31b-32.

If you call out to Jesus He’ll turn to you and ask “What do you want Me to do for you?” The question is do you want to go on just hearing? Or do you want to see?

Prayer: Thank You Jesus that You are the way, the truth and the life, and that You came to open the eyes of blind and set free those who’re in prison. Today I acknowledge that I need my eyes opened to see the truth. I no longer want to just hear it, but to see it. Jesus I ask to receive sight. In Jesus’ name, Amen.