7th Chapter in "More Than Amazing Grace"

written by Lonnie Melashenko and David B.Smith

 

Thomas had been blind all his life.  For more than fifty years -- half a century -- he had known nothing but the intense blackness of his handicap.  He had never known anything but that darkness.

 

And then came the day when a world-renowned surgeon, following hours of delicate ophthalmic surgery, gently removed the bandages covering Thomas' eyes.  There was one agonizing moment of tension and suspense.  Would the patient, after all these years, be able to see again?

 

Thomas, his heart pounding in his chest, blinked twice, then opened his eyes.  And there it all was -- the blue sky outside, the curtains on the windows, the faces of his parents and friends, all the colors on the wallpaper, and the trees outside.  And, of course, the smile of the surgeon as he viewed the incredible results of his successful labor.

 

"Was blind, but now I see."  Certainly as we consider all the lyrics of the gospel song "Amazing Grace," these four words -- "but now I see" -- have to be among the most poignant.  What a miracle to see again after being blind!

 

Most of us don't think a whole lot about walking, but have you ever walked after being lame?  Have you listened to a symphony or the roar of a waterfall after being deaf for thirty or forty years?

 

The closest you and I will probably come to this experience is when we are sick and in bed and then finally are well again and get up to enjoy life once more.  What a marvelous sensation -- to feel good!  To be well after such a long time of feeling miserable.

 

But nothing can beat the miracle of seeing again when you were blind before.  Seeing is such a powerful, all-encompassing, life-altering sense.  And to have it when you did not have it before -- so few people have ever had that experience.

 

You know, to be blind and to be lost, kind of go together, don't they?  They go together in daily life and in our spiritual lives as well.  A blind person is going to lose his or her way.

 

But friend, it is equally true, and wonderfully true, that to see again is to also be found again.  What wonderful news in heaven when a lost person is found!  And that rescue mission reaches fulfillment when a blind person is brought at last to the point of sight.  When the darkness of not seeing amazing grace is shattered by the searchlight shining down from Calvary.  What a great moment that is!

 

My friend, pastor Mark Finley, who serves as the host of our sister broadcast, the It Is Written TV program, tells how he once met a young woman named Marcia during a series of presentations.  At these meetings she found Jesus and started living life all over again with Him.

 

She wrote a note to Pastor Finley later and it went like this:

 

        "Dear Pastor Finley: How could I have been so blind?  How could I have been so stupid?  I spent thirty-one years just running.  Looking for something. I didn't know what.  My philosophy was go, go, go.  I've never been able to sit down and relax; I've just been running from place to place, taking pills to calm me down, more pills to get to sleep, drinking a glass of wine, trying to relax.

 

        Feeling so alone.  I never understood what inner peace was!  For the first time in my life, Jesus has captured my heart.  I'm not alone anymore.  He loves me! He died so I could be forgiven.  What a shame I never loved Him before!  Thank You, Jesus, for loving me.  I'm so glad I'm not alone anymore."

 

How can you top that?  One letter like that keeps you going for a long time.  It really does.  And we get mail like that at the Voice of Prophecy every single day.  People who pour out their heart on beautiful perfumed stationary or on the back of a cocktail napkin: "Now I get it!  All my life I couldn't see it; people tried to tell me, and I just didn't get it.  I was blind, but now I see."  somehow, someway, the Holy Spirit finds His way through to the heart and the eyes -- the spiritual eyes.

 

Friend, right now I would like to share two important points with you. 

 

We have explored the beautiful truth that when we are lost, we don't find our own way home.  The Father comes looking for us.

 

And we have seen that when we are blind, we can not make ourselves see again.  We need healing from an outside source!  We need the eyesalve that Jesus provides.

 

And yet, God so often provides the miracles of restored sight through others.

 

Do you remember the Bible story found in John's Gospel, in which Jesus healed a man who was blind from birth?  Jesus took a dab of dirt, a bit of saliva, and some of the water from the Pool of Siloam to aid in the healing process.

 

Today, just as God may work through the talented, loving hands of an eye surgeon to bring you physical sight, He uses His servants, His people, even His church, to restore spiritual sight to those who are blind.

 

Think back through your own life, and right now I'll do the same thing.  Think of people who have prayed for you: parents, school teachers, maybe a godly Sabbath School or Sunday School teacher.  Think of people who have opened up the Bible for you and showed you truth.  God used them as His appointed eye surgeons, didn't He?

 

I can remember good books that my mom and dad gave me for Christmas and for my birthday.  I can think of nine million times that my wife Jeannie has been used by God to show me the gift of grace.  Her prayers for me, her loving words of encouragement -- God has used her to point me over and over toward Calvary.  Praise God for a good Christian spouse.

 

Maybe somebody sent you a letter when you were discouraged.  And friend, maybe during a moment of darkness, a time of near-blindness for you, you turned on your radio and the Voice of Prophecy was on the air.  Perhaps you heard Pastor richards, or H. M. S. Richards,Jr.  God used them to bring you out of darkness and into light.  Isn't it marvelous how God works through His servants?

 

Right now, maybe He would like to use you.  Maybe you are walking in the light, and your son or your daughter or your neighbor is blind.  How about it?  Is there a letter you could write or a phone call you could make right now?  A prayer you could whisper?

 

That is my challenge for you, and I am writing a note to myself as well.  "Lonnie, this is for you too."  I am not just a radio program host.  I've got neighbors and relatives and lonely, blind people who come into my life as well.  I want God to use me to turn on the spotlight and let them see the grace that flows from Calvary.

 

One more brief point.  The blind man Jesus healed caused quite a stir among the Pharisees and priests.  And they asked him: "Who did this?"  "Jesus," the man answered enthusiastically.  That didn't make them happy.  "This Jesus is a sinner.  He's not from God," they insisted.

 

Listen to this marvelous reply from the man who was seeing the light of day for the very first time.  "Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know.  One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25).

 

The healing, the return of that man's sight, was proof to him that Jesus was real!  That Jesus was the Messiah, the giver of grace.  Because he saw again, he believed.

 

You know something?  Two thousand years laater, the same logic works again.  when you finally see grace, your believe in the Provideer of that grace.  Our restored vision is the proof we need, the answer to all our questions.  So many Christians are walking around praising God because they can see again.  That miracle gives validation to the claims of Jesus Christ to be your Saviour right now.