Just Watching
There are none so blind as those who will not see—
There are days when I’m just as they say, ‘gobsmacked.” I watch people doing the most self-defeating things and I wonder how they can persevere doing the same things that have caused them problems.
As someone wiser than I has said, “The meaning of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting to get a different outcome.”
I can understand. I watched as a man who had recently become blind was learning how to live his new life. He was preparing his table before he brought his food for his meal. It could have looked heartless, but I laughed… well, I snickered at least.
On his table sat a pile of books. In clearing the books from the table he began to place them on the floor. The person helping stopped him. There were several ‘new rules’ he needed to learn of his reality. But as I watched I recognized how this would have been what he had done in the before days, and this would be utterly and absolutely wrong in his new life.
It wasn’t funny, except it was so human. We all share common foibles. Putting a pile of books on the floor whether you are sighted or not isn’t a good idea, but how much worse when you are blind?
There are more ways than one to be blind. The Lord has said, There are none so blind as those who will not see—well, he should have said it, but here is what he did say:
“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” (John 9:39)
And really those who refuse to see, who don’t want to see, won’t see.
So, what do you know? What do you see? Have you ever considered what the world would be like if reduced to its elemental base? We live in a world that runs on perceived wealth and there are a number of those forms of wealth.
“But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.” (Jeremiah 41:8)
That elemental form of wealth saved more than one life.
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8)
Ah, yes, consider Job: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1)
“His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” (Job 1:3)
Job had wealth and honor, yet Job’s true wealth lay in his love of God.
The book of Job deals with suffering but in many ways even after reading this book we aren’t any closer to understanding suffering, either the why or how of it.
“It’s funny how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and then we fall in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. Life keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us. Don’t be afraid. Have faith. Find the lessons. Trust the journey.” Peace, Love and Smiles~
I don’t say “Trust the journey,” it comes down to a trust in God.
Most of us want to be in control. When I started out on my journey I had it all figured out. However, just like the meme says God kept leading me on a journey I never would have gone on. What I had figured I wanted wasn’t the journey I had. And as the Apostle Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God.
“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”(Job 42:1-3)
