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By Dean Kelly

I have always thought that certain disabilities would be especially difficult. I can’t imagine being deaf and not being able to hear the simple but beautiful symphony of nature that we often take for granted. I can’t imagine never hearing the sounds of music, or even the cacophony of sounds that often almost overwhelm our senses.

Another disability that would seem so overwhelming would be blindness. For those born blind that means never seeing the setting sun with its blaze of glory painting the evening sky with beautiful and vivid colors as if God has painted it with His own hand. Imagine never seeing the face of your dearest loved ones; never looking into the eyes of the newborn, or into the eyes of the love of your life.

However, while I am touched by the blind and deaf, and while I fight with my hearing and sight as I grow older, there is a much more serious type of deafness and blindness. Jeremiah speaks of it in Jeremiah 5:21, “Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not.”

God tells Isaiah, “And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.’” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

The Apostle Paul quotes this passage in Acts 28:25-27 and refers to it again in Romans 11:8.

Hearing aids can help hearing loss, and glasses can improve eyesight, but spiritual deafness and blindness can only be healed in one way — by opening our spiritual eyes and ears to the truth of God as presented in His word. It does not require an audiologist or an ophthalmologist to cure that spiritual problem. It requires an open heart that bows to the Father at the cross of His dear Son in obedient faith. Let’s meet at that cross and see and hear clearly.

 

Dean Kelly is minister at Highland Home Church of Christ.