BY FAITH NOT SIGHT

WE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT

Coffee With Jesus June 21, 2025

“We walk by faith and not by sight”

2 Corinthians 5:7

Two weeks ago my husband and I went for eye exams. It had been two years since my previous exam. The Optometrist did the usual dilation and exam for serious issues like retinopathy, detached retina, glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts, and other issues that someone of our mature ages may experience. I knew I had the beginning of cataracts 2 years ago, but on a recent road trip I really noticed a deterioration in my vision when trying to read exit signs along the freeway.  Reading the computer screen has also been difficult at times due to our downsize from our old desktop to a newer laptop PC. with a screen about one third the size of our large screen on our older computer. Thankfully our trip was on a route that is very familiar to me. Still, it was unnerving when I realized that it made me feel uncomfortable not to read the sign until I was right on top of it. Reading a book or seeing the closed captions on the television has been challenging too, so I made an appointment soon after we returned home from our trip. 

My husband passed his exam with flying colors, just a minor increase in his prescription. My optometrist gave me “good news and not so good news”. The good news, my eyes themselves are healthy. I do not have retinopathy, glaucoma, macular generation, detached retina. The not-so-great news, not surprising, the cataracts have grown; she can restore my vision to a certain extent with eyeglasses. However, the cataract in my right eye is much worse than that in my left eye. I’m approaching the time when I need to consider having an assessment for cataract surgery. The new eyeglasses have helped my vision some, but I haven’t enjoyed the clarity and sharpness as I have in the past when getting new glasses. 

I sat with the news for a week before we went to purchase the new glasses earlier this week. I prayed about it, sharing my fear, and feelings with Jesus and then remembered that I am a Proverbs 31:32 woman who “is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future”. I admit the thought of eye surgery frightens me, not the surgery itself, just that I will be awake while they do it. I’d rather be put under general anesthesia, totally unaware of what is happening. Still, while I may not be laughing about everything, nothing is stealing my joy in my new trendy fun eyeglasses, and the slight improvement in my vision and the absence of the daily headaches I’d been experiencing. I can’t clearly see what the future holds but my faith is in Jesus. He will hold my hand and light my path into the unknown. “I will walk by faith, not by sight.” Jesus promises to be with us no matter what we are facing.

These past two weeks, during my morning coffee time with Jesus, he sent me down a scriptural ‘rabbit hole’. I say it partially in jest, but it’s true. He piqued my interest when He led me to face my fear by looking at what His Holy Word has to say about blindness, sight, and healing of blindness. There are many verses and stories in scripture that refer to blindness and sight.  I read many but my interest was really fired up when reading some commentaries about Acts chapter 9. Saul, a righteous Pharisee was struck blind when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. 

Some have theorized about the cause of  Saul’s blindness from the bright light from heaven that shone down on him and his men when Jesus spoke to him. We are told that Jesus shines brighter than the sun. Was the light like looking at a welder’s arc without proper protection of the eye to protect it from the UV light? The typical length of time it takes for eyes to heal from this kind of injury, known as flash burn, is three days. We are told that Paul was blind for three days before his sight was restored during his visit to Ananias. Did the radiation from the light of Jesus cause a cataract like condition, or a covering of some kind over his cornea while his eyes healed? All we know is that we are told “something like scales fell from his eyes” after he was healed and he could see and understand what he didn’t before.

Blindness can be both spiritual as well as physical. Jesus lashed out at Pharisees he accused of being spiritually blind, neglecting and exploiting the most vulnerable of God’s children. Most Pharisees followed the law strictly, looking through the lens of the letter of the law rather than through the lens of the spirit of the law. Paul was perhaps the most zealous of Pharisees who saw his persecution of early Christians as righteous justice. Was Paul struck with physical blindness because he was spiritually blind, persecuting men women and children who identified themselves as followers of Jesus? Did God use Paul’s physical blindness to heal his spiritual blindness? Paul’s physical sight was restored, but more phenomenally, his spiritual blindness was taken away. He could see himself clearly then and could see the truth about Jesus the Messiah. Paul began to see the law through the eyes of Jesus who encouraged the keeping of the law with the application of mercy, kindness, justice and humility, all of which were absent from upholding the letter of the law. 

PRAYER: Dearest Lord, for several days, I’ve mulled over my situation, Paul’s situation, and all the other scriptures I read written about blindness and sight. I find myself asking myself, what is *MY* spiritual blindness? Lord, heal my spiritual sight so that I may see you more clearly. What insights are still fuzzy, that I am not seeing clearly? What of Your truths am I not grasping? Show me Lord, what are the scales that need to fall from my eyes? In your name Jesus I pray. Amen.

For further thought and study:

Jesus shines brighter than the sun,

Matthew:17:2 Acts 26:13 Revelation 1:16

Physical blindness,

Matthew 9:27-31 Matthew 11:5 John 9:1-7 Isaiah 35:5-6

Spiritual blindness,

John 9:39-41 2 Corinthians 4:4 Matthew 15:14