Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41, Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 10:46-52
My preschool teacher was the first to notice my vision problems. Her suspicions were confirmed after an appointment with my eye doctor. I had a lazy eye, but the treatment was simple: wear a patch over the dominant eye to force the weak eye to strengthen. As a budding young artist, I relished the opportunity to draw a gorgeous new eyeball on my disposable eye patch each morning. I can only imagine how ridiculous I looked, but at the age of four I had little concern for appearances.
My eyesight was corrected over time. Not surprisingly, the optometrist never pronounced, “Your faith has healed you!” Rather we assumed modern medicine deserved the credit. My physical sight was nearly perfect, but spiritually I remained blind for many years.
Jesus did not heal blindness the same way an ophthalmologist would.
First of all, your eye doctor has most likely never rubbed mud on your eyes. Secondly, I doubt your eye doctor has ever discussed your spiritual sight. In my experience, she has you look through a metal contraption and asks, “Which looks better, number 1 or number 2, number 2 or number 3?” Surely this is one of the most confusing tests known to man, but it has nothing to do with your faith.
While the multiple accounts of Jesus healing blindness did involve a physical transformation, He always acknowledged a spiritual component. Christ was not satisfied with saving the body; He was even more concerned with saving the soul.
Blindness and sight, darkness and light—these are metaphors Christ often used to describe the spiritual realm. When He healed someone of physical blindness, it was also a statement regarding His power to heal spiritual blindness.
Physical healing is a wonderful gift. But if we only ask for relief from our temporary afflictions, we are not asking for enough. Jesus came so that “those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind” (John 9:39). His miracle of sight is alive in all who believe because salvation is a miracle of resurrection. Our eyes have been opened; we were dead, but now we’re alive in Christ Jesus. Faith in Him is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:1-5,8).
When God gives us spiritual sight, scales fall from our eyes as they did for the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:18). Our circumstances might remain exactly the same, but our perspective shifts. Where there is hopelessness, Christ offers hope. Where there is fear, Christ offers peace. Where there is hatred, Christ offers love.
We are all works in progress. None of us has 20/20 vision just yet. But we know from Jesus’ work on earth that He delights in healing our sight. We ought to pray for physical healing because the Lord cares deeply about our entire well-being. But we should pray also for spiritual sight—the miraculous gift of faith that truly saves us.
Kaitie Stoddard is a professional counselor who recently relocated from Chicago to Colorado with her husband. She has her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and is passionate about helping couples and families find healing in their relationships. On any given weekend you’re likely to find Katie snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains, checking out new restaurants with friends, or catching up on her favorite Netflix and podcast series.
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55 thoughts on "Christ Gives Sight"
Why should we trust God, my mom believes seeing an eye doctor is more Important then getting spiritual or physical healing from God. Why should I trust God when my mom forces me to get my eyes checked instead of getting healed by Jesus. How do you go about this? I am not able to make my own choices its always my mom making the choices for me do you know what that feels like to live a life hard with a mom bossing you around. I can’t even pay my own taxes or cook myself, so what’s your solution to that?
Our circumstances may remain the same but our perspective shifts. This is what spiritual fullness in Christ has done for me in these last few months as my physical health as challenged me more than ever before in my life. in my darkness and physical starvation , I became spiritually full of Jesus and his love. What a gift
I recapped on this story from the reading plan in the book of John I did several months ago. It was great to go back and refresh on the notes I had written and to read this plan and how I had seemingly had similar notes and understanding to this story. This truly inspires me as I was born with retinopathy in my right eye. I have been blind in it since birth. I have never been able to see out of it nor was there an option for me to have surgery to see. If there was, we could not afford it. So as I got older, I realized that maybe it was not meant for me to see in this eye and that it was yet a gift. During college, I remember accepting Jesus as my savior again… Of course, I had grown up with my grandmother in church and we had those old school revivals. The ones where you sit on the morning bench and accept the Lord as your savior and then scheduled a day to get baptized in the lake by the church. Even though I had done that at the young age of 8 years old, I still did not quite understand what it really meant to be saved. It seemed like a natural thing to do during a revival in those times. However, being in college, I had a better grasp of God and he started showing me things in a spiritual view for things that I never could imagine seeing with a physical view. I was so amazed at the things he shared and still shares with me in my dreams. Now my friends always call me up and say “Pray for me because I know that you can “see” God like no other and that he answers all your prayers”. I often laugh because I share with them things about their lives that I never knew. I always tell them things that happen in my home that I know it was no one but God, or how I have these out of body experiences when I am sleeping. My fiance and old roommate have been able to see them. Funny they use to think Ghost were in my home, lol, but it was nothing but the presence of God. So in all of this short story, I thank God for the spiritual sight that he has given me. I still struggle sometimes with seeing the things he has for me, especially when I want to see them my way. But over my journey in life, he has truly made my sight clear and concise especially during a time where we are living in a falling world.
Lord, thank You for not giving up on me. Thank You for sending Your Son to heal my spiritual blindness. I know that You are concerned for my physical well-being, but You care most about my spiritual well-being. Help me to love others as You continue to love me.
I’m going through a difficult breakup and this series has been carrying me through it. God removed this rocky relationship only to fill that space with His love and healing, and to gently show me how unhealthy it had become. He changes my perspective with love after I spent months fighting against the truth that He wanted me to know. I am so thankful.
These readings all spoke to me deeply. This especially had me very weepy eyed…
“Jesus came so that “those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind” (John 9:39). His miracle of sight is alive in all who believe because salvation is a miracle of resurrection. Our eyes have been opened; we were dead, but now we’re alive in Christ Jesus. Faith in Him is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:1-5,8).”
Loving this Bible study journey!
Just after reading this yesterday, I drove to my office and passed two blind people crossing the street. They were feeling out in front of them, sensing the crosswalk and curbs and potholes, and as I saw them I realized that’s how I must have looked to God, feeling out in front of me in the darkness on my own path, before He gave me spiritual sight. The truth is there are far more spiritually blind people everywhere we look than we even realize. I prayed in that moment to see the ones right in front of me who are spiritually blind to the things of God, and that with my speech and conduct I would point consistently to the One who gave me sight (so I could see others where they are at). I was lost once, too; I was blind, but now I see.
I was reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver last night and the chapter I was reading actually referenced the story of the blind man in John 9. It was chapter 8, which is called “Lessons from Lazarus” and the story came up under the point “God’s love sometimes tarries for our good and his glory.”
I loved this little excerpt from the chapter and wanted to share:
“Because of a fallen world, a man was born blind. But because of that man, Jesus Christ was glorified.
We are not pawns on some celestial chessboard, expendable and unimportant. We are cherished and highly loved. ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?’ Jesus reminds us gently in Luke 12:6-7. ‘Yet not one of them is forgotten by God….Don’t be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows.’
While we may never fully understand why God’s love sometimes lingers, we can rest assured that God’s love is always at work. He may not move according to our schedule, but he is right on time for what is best. And he has our ultimate good forever in mind.”
Any time a Bible story or verse comes up more than once, I know God is telling me to pay attention. I have several loved ones who are in a season of spiritual blindness and it is so easy to become discouraged while praying for their healing. I’m thankful for the reminder that God’s timing is perfect. As we read recently in Isaiah, his hand is not too short to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear (Isaiah 59:1). Praying that he would deepen my faith while bringing glory to his name.
That excerpt is great! Thank you for sharing!
Very nice
Asking this morning that you dear She’s would pray for spiritual sight for my sister Mary. She’s always had trouble with her physical eyes but it is her spiritual darkness that saddens me. She proclaimed that once our parents died, she would have nothing more to do with us siblings (we are 8). My dad passed in August. My mom passed 18 months before that. I invited her to our daughter’s bridal shower. Her reply : “Not attending. No need to send a wedding invitation.” Ouch. I know she is in contact with a couple nephews but… She is still my sister. There is a long standing bitterness that has deep roots. But God… Please pray with me for her to come to see and to know the joy of our Lord. Thank you all
Praying for you sister Mary. Asking the Lord to open her eyes and soften her heart.
– Stormye
Praying for you Churchmouse. I also am going through a similar situation with my Mum and siblings. Since my Dad just passed away and we just had his memorial this past Saturday. Everyone went to my Mum’s to visit. I was very reluctant, but ended up going. I’m beginning to see how blind my family really is and how they are still in the darkness on things. I pray God opens up there eyes and hearts to forgiveness, grace, and mercy. At times it seems like a losing battle, since they are not Faith Believing Christians. I pray God also removes the veil so they can see the pain and sin that they are living in. I thank God for his endless mercy towards us, for for SRT for you all have been a strong strength for me in the last month. Thank you ladies for your prayets.
Praying for you churchmouse and sister Mary.
I too am going through a similar situation. My brother was paralyzed 6 years ago. He since has become bitter and does not see the joy and miracles in Christ, because he was not “healed”. Growing up we were a very close family, went to our home church every Sunday, and he later joined another church that fit his needs and views. It seems he began to “fade” from his faith while in college, and continued to drift with age. I can understand the bitterness of being paralyzed, but I wish he could see the other miracles that God has provided him. I thank God every day for the miracle of my brothers life, and that he is still here with us. I pray He can open his eyes spiritually and that my brother can find comfort in the Lord again.
I temporarily suddenly lost my eyesight in one eye 18 months ago when my eye haemorraged. I gained sight again after surgery and was diagnosed with an eye condition I didn’t know I had in both eyes. The eye hospital undertook a load of tests to see if there was an underlying nasty cause. When my eyesight came back in my eye I was overwhelmed at the beauty God shows us in this world while we wait for him. And I wrote several pages in my journal of how he had provided help for me quickly from all directions. I’ve learned spiritual lessons from it – how suddenly are we blinded by things that aren’t good for us or lose our spiritual eyesight to take the right path in a situation or see those in need around us? Although I still have the eye condition, I know the condition could be so much worse and I’m so thankful – like our lives if we don’t know or acknowledge God. They eye hospital won’t discharge me yet and I go to see them regularly – they want to keep running tests in case there is any underlying disease that may come to light that needs treating – again a bit like God who shines a light on our sin for our good. And if I ever receive a sudden flare up – I can go to the emergency to receive immediate care – a bit like us when we are suddenly hit by a curveball and we can go to God and receive his tender care and guidance.
Amen!
Wow! Thank you for sharing, Louise! So grateful for this testimony this morning.
– Stormye
Amen! Thank you Lord that you come after our hearts, not just our bodies. I love that that Jesus is always wanting to go deeper with us.
http://www.in-due-time.com
Amen! Love this!!
Reading the devotional, i kept thinking that our physical bodies aren’t going up to Heaven with us… but our soul will. Here on Earth, we should pray for physical healing because our bodies are temples, however, spiritual brokenness is what truly needs healing. Physical healing is a door opening to the faith that beings restoration, peace and comfort. It will make you realize maybe there is a deeper part inside you that needs to be remedied. A remedy that is permanent and not just temporary. A faith that is promising and not compromising. “We must learn to have a blind faith without turning a blind eye.”- Katalina G.
I loved seeing in John 9 how these “Spiritually Perfect” Pharisees are speaking with this former blind man. I love the blind man’s boldness with these men. He is not afraid to stand up for what he knows to be true and make them face their own blindness, since they were the ones that were TRULY blind. How often though do we find ourselves blind!? Blind to what God is doing in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Blind to the value of that person that seems “less than” or unworthy. Blind to the purposes of our struggles and failures. I pray that we can all overcome our blindness like this poor beggar did and never let ourselves think we have it all figured out and perfect like those Pharisees did.
Amen!
“They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?’ So they put him out.” John 9:34. The Pharisees’ pride blinded them spiritually… They couldn’t see the Messiah. They wouldn’t see Him. They were looking down on the man who was healed. They felt better than him. And they were blinded. Instead of seeing truth. Instead of seeing the beautiful miracle. They saw nothing. They clung to there dark deception. Lord, help me to see you. Take my pride away that blinds me from your truth.
Thank you for this perspective.
Thanks for sharing your take on this study. I often come across people in my everyday life whose pride is blinding them from God’s truth…they even profess that they are followers of Christ, yet they refuse to let down their pride and SEE! Thank you for opening my eyes to this perspective!
Ladies, I just want to encourage you, God always heals!!! Have no fear of continuing to pray for healing. It doesn’t make you a “hypocrite” if you don’t see the healing. Remember the actually physical healing may not come until we are in heaven with Him, but it will come! Whether on earth or in heaven. So, have no fear asking, He delights in His children coming near and believing He can AND WILL do great things! He will give us exactly what we need, when we need it! We can be assured of that.
Have a blessed day sisters!
Faith. What an amazing gift from God. And I pause to reflect on my own neer- sightedness. Blind from birth and not recognizing the miracles around me every.single.day. distracted by all that goes on.. I mean look at the blind man healed and questioned by the authorities.. even his parents where distracted.. but he said it was God who healed him… Faith. Then when asked by Jesus himself – “who is he?” How blind we really are. Only grace can open these eyes and I beg for us all to ask.. who is he.. and fall to worship our saving grace. Thank you Jesus.
My son was a teenager before we discovered he was extremely color-weak in his reds and greens, almost color blind! No wonder he couldn’t mow the lawn properly or match his clothes (but he thought he could). His distance was not so great either and when he received his new glasses he said it was like “seeing everything in HD!” Parent fail.
I always think of that when I read about the blind that Jesus healed. And it was all for His glory, at His perfect time and His perfect circumstance. Even when we don’t understand why we aren’t healed of certain afflictions, God is ever present in our circumstance. If and when He does heal us, we can be assured it is for His glory! With all of the health issues I have had the last twenty years, and all of the people who have prayed over me for healing, I may not have been completely healed but God has done marvelous things for me that I would not have experienced if not for the infirmities. And my prayer of late has been that He would use it for His glory, whether in healing or not, that He would be glorified. As our sister said today, that it would “count”!
Thanks for sharing this testimony!
Amen! Thank you for sharing. ❤️
The Lord has really been opening my eyes for me spiritually lately. I always looked forward to the day that I would be a perfect Christian, or would have read the entire Bible, or even would get to a certain point in life to fully receive God and be whole in Him. Then, I thought, I would truly know him and his peace. I don’t think I would’ve admitted that, but always felt that way deep down. Lately he has been showing me that I just need to choose to be wholly His, choose to enjoy this stage of life, and choose to let him be in control. It’s just about looking to Him. While this is all basic stuff that I mentally knew all along, God has finally opened me eyes and heart to truly believe it. And it is so freeing. I pray that God would continue to show each of us the light that we have not yet seen. Blessings!
Love this Caitie. Something I’ve struggled with too. Thanks for sharing
You spoke my heart through your comment this morning. Thanks for sharing.
Just after reading today’s title, I knew it was gonna be a hard one.
I was blind, and now I see. My spiritual eyes have been opened, although I still need glasses to correct my myopia.
I believe with all my heart in God’s gift of salvation.
But physical healing? Well, I do believe He has the power to heal me and I’ve been crying out in pain to be healed, and yet healing hasn’t come. It’s been years and the aching keeps getting worse.
Last night I couldn’t sleep because I was in a lot of pain, and I woke up today feeling equally tired. I think I should quit my job, although it’s just a temporary one and it provides money so I can move overseas. I don’t if that is considered surrendering to God’s will or it’s just giving up.
People around me tell me that I don’t pray hard enough, that I lack faith, that I’m too self-absorbed, and that I should just suck it up and keep going.
And yet:
“Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” —John 9:3
The works of God aren’t always what we’d prefer. My poor eyesight doesn’t let me see God’s plans too far ahead. Praise be to Him for his power and sovereignty.
Prayers are appreciated, that God’s will would be done in my life.
For me to have spiritual strength and wisdom to make a decision. Or for healing. For understanding from those around me, and their support. For God’s provision, if I have to quit my job.
Praying for you, friend. I agree that not knowing how it is glorifying him can be so hard. As I read your post, the song “what if blessings come through raindrops” by Laura Story kept popping into my head. “What if my greatest disappointment, or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy.” I don’t know what Gods plan is for you, but I’m praying that you would feel his peace and comfort, and that he would make this situation count to glorify His kingdom.
Praying for you, Tochi!!❤️
Praying for you, too!
Praying for you, Tochi. You are such a blessing to this SRT community. Asking the Lord to heal and, if that isn’t in His will, to grant peace and comfort to you. So grateful for you.
– Stormye
“If we only ask for relief from our temporary afflictions, we are not asking for enough.” This was such a great reminder to me about how I need to be praying. I have always struggled with how to pray for something. When people are sick and suffering I want them to be better, but what if that’s not God’s will; how do I pray. Prayer was a hard thing for me to do. I felt like a hypocrite because I want them better, but that might not be what happens.
Anyway, God is good and sometimes Facebook can be an instrument of His. I read a blog post about this very thing. In it the writer said that she changed one word and it changed her prayer life. Instead of praying, “make it better”, she prayed, “make it count.” This has changed my whole prayer life. Now, I pray, “Lord, I want my friend to be better. I want her to be healed, to get that job, whatever the need, but even more, Papa God, I want this to count for Your kingdom. And, if it’s not going to count, then don’t make it better.”
Make. It. Count.
Have a blessed day.
I’m not sure if it was you or someone else, but a while back someone posted this in the comments and I have prayed it ever since. Make it count! Love this!
Thank you for sharing this, Kathy.
Such a wonderful prayer: make it count.
Thank you for sharing “make it count.” I love that! I am also going to ask for things to count, rather than get better.
Love this so much! Thank you for sharing! ❤️
Love this Kathy!
Make it count. Holy smokes. Thank you so much for sharing this, it was truly what I needed to do today… to change “make it better/clearer/easier/calmer” to “make it count”. I feel like I want to call a whole bunch of people and share this really great thought with them. Big hugs xoxo
“If we only ask for relief from our temporary afflictions, we are not asking for enough.” This comment stuck out for me in the devotional, but your insight about “make it count” really hit home for me. Thanks for sharing! :)
Yes! Make this suffering count for Your kingdom. Let Your glory be seen in the healing or in the enduring. All for you, Lord. All for you.
Where there is hopelessness, Christ offers hope. Where there is fear, Christ offers peace. Where there is hatred, Christ offers love.
These words so reminded me of the song… make me a channel of your peace…
https://youtu.be/ihhvm6eLWZI
I love the words of this song, this Prayer of St Francis of Assisi…
Jesus’ miracle of sight giving, in the physical… how amazing… can you image being blind for however long and then being able to see …. I can only imagine the excitement, the feeling of joy and ecstatic jubilation at not being at a disadvatage any more… I would be able to see my family, put a face to a voice I had heard often and loved. I would be able to see night and day. Not just feel the seasons, but see the them and wonder…
The gift of sight in the physical, is without a doubt, a miracle…an astonishing one
But by God,
The gift of sight in the spiritual is something else… the opening of the eyes of ones heart, the key to seeing God, truly seeing Him, absolutely is something eternal…
This prayer of St Francis,
With prayer words like…Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy…can not be prayed if the eyes of our heart have not been opened to the love of our Saviour. His giving of Himself for us and our salvation… He is our hope in all things… of the heart mind and soul…
I believe it is only an encounter of eye opening magnitude, spiritually, that will then allow us to seek in prayer ..
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much to seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning, that we are pardoned, and it is is dying, that we are born to Eternal life.
There is a certain healing, in having the scales removed from our eyes, the rose tints of life on earth that we see as the be all and end all, are just that…. goes nowhere, and are only momentary, for the moment and in the moment… but the mud in your eye type of eye opening… trust me, trust Jesus are where we want to be…
Let me leave you with this story and and song of hope…
I love you beautiful women of God, each and every one… praying God turn His face to shine on you today in all you do, are or say. Xxx
Oooops I forgot the link…
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KGYWKLNX
Be blessed…
How beautiful! Thanks for reminding us to see Jesus with our hearts!!
We sang a different version of this same prayer in our college choir and it was always one of my favorites!
Just an aside – I wonder for all those blind people – was the first thing they saw Jesus? What a wonderful way to start to see. Would you ever want to look at anything else?
Love this!!
I’ve never thought of this! What a beautiful image!
what a beautiful thought!