By Rodney Tilley, Pastor Van Horn Community Church —
I was watching the Three Stooges the other day, (I know it is a man
thing), and course the Stooges were poking, hitting, and throwing pies
as usual. There was one time where Curly, after an unfortunate incident,
yells, “I can't see, I can't see, I'm blind” and Moe proceeds to yell
back, “Then open your eyes.” Of course, as soon as he does, Moe, with
the famous two-finger jab, pokes him in the eyes, slabs him on the head,
and kicks him in the seat, and then the routine starts up once again. I
think it is funny, but my wife tells me it is absurd.
But something I find just as strange and just as idiotic is when
we close our eyes and ears to the spiritual call of God around us and
proclaim that God is nowhere to be found. We say, “I can't see, I can't
see,” but the Bible says that, “You have seen many things, but paid no
attention, your ears are open, but you hear nothing.” (Isa. 42:20). We
proclaim as Curly did, “I cannot see” when all you have to do is to open
your eyes and see God's hand.
We see it in the “coincidence” of that phone call at just the
right moment, or that friend who drops by just when you need them. We
hear voices in the middle of the night, when God whispers to you, “I
will turn darkness into light….and make the rough places smooth.” (Isa.
42:16b) We see him speaking when we open our Bibles and read his direct
words, sometimes written in red.
To be perfectly honest, I cannot understand why people choose to
remain in spiritual darkness when Jesus tells us that he is the “light
of the world and we will never walk in darkness.” (John 8:12) For you
see, you are not blind, you just need to open your eyes. Open your eyes
to a world filled with God's grace and his goodness, filled with his
presence and his Spirit, and filled with forgiveness and freedom.
The Three Stooges were funny, at least to most men, but the
blindness on the street is not funny, but sad for it leads to despair
and hopelessness. Today, open your eyes, God is here, you will see. Also
open your ears for He also is speaking to you, with words that you need
to hear and with a truth that is unchangeable.
