Spiritually Blind

By Anton Bosch

Anton Bosch Ministries

http://www.antonbosch.com/index.html

Why can some people just not get it? Why can they not see things that are as clear as the nose on their face? Because they are spiritually blind. Even though some people may have been Christians for a long time, they are blind and cannot see those things that are obvious to other believers around them. I am sure you have come across people like that and have wondered how one can become so blind and what we need to do to stop this disease from attacking us and bringing us into this terrible darkness.

The saddest part about spiritual blindness is that the person, who has it, cannot recognize that he cannot see! People who are physically blind are very aware of the fact that they are blind and that everything around them is dark. But the spiritually blind actually think they can see and, in fact, often think they can see better than anyone else. Is this not what Jesus meant when He spoke about the man with the two by four in his eye wanting to remove the speck from another’s eye? (Matthew 7:5). Jesus also told the church in Laodicea you “do not know that you ... blind” (Revelation 3:17).

Religious leaders are often amongst those who are spiritually blind. Many times Jesus accused the Pharisees of being “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14; 23:24; 23:26 etc.). Thus being religious, a Christian or even a Christian leader does not provide immunity from this ailment. It is even possible that religious people are more prone to catching this than other people and the more spiritual we think we are, the more likely we are to catch it. In a recent prayer meeting I heard someone pray a long, very pious prayer for someone else to see the light. That prayer would have been a very good prayer had it not been that his prayer actually applied to him and that he was the one whose eyes should be opened and who needed to repent. (Don’t worry; he won’t even realize that this is about him because spiritual blindness is so destructive that people who have it just don’t have a clue, even if you rub their noses in it!). Jesus said to the Pharisees that the very fact that they say they can see is proof that they are blind! (John 9:40-41).

There are a few things that cause blindness. The first is pride. Remember that “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes” (Proverbs 16:2). After Saul had disobeyed the command of the Lord, he actually erected a statue to himself, and with the bleating of the cursed sheep in the background, greeted Samuel with the words: “I have performed the commandment of the LORD” (1Samuel 15:13). His arrogance had made him so blind that he really thought that wrong was right. Even after Samuel had clearly explained to Saul how he had disobeyed, he still did not get it. The story of the first king of Israel is a sad saga of a man who was so blinded by his arrogance that he never understood a single thing the prophet said to him. Even once David had been anointed in his place and clearly carried God’s blessing, Saul still thought he could hold onto the anointing by killing David. How terribly sad.

The antidote to blindness that comes through pride is obviously humility. Take every rebuke personally and receive every message you hear for yourself. Read every word in the Bible as a personal message to you, especially those that contain admonition, warning and rebuke. Ask others to be honest with you and to tell you how they see you and be humble enough to listen to their advice. Above all, ask the Lord daily to open your eyes so you may really see. When you see others stumbling about in darkness, you should never look down on them, but rather allow it to be a warning and immediately flee to the Lord and ask Him to help you see and to keep you from developing blind spots. I have found preaching in some churches easier than others. One of the things that makes it easy in some churches is that no matter how direct the message, everyone goes away very happy because the message was for someone else they know. Of course it is easy because no one gets upset with you, but it is a total waste of time since no one got the message.

The second cause of spiritual blindness is when we refuse to be open to the truth. The human mind has a wonderful capacity to select what it wants to see, hear and remember. Television and the proliferation of images of blood, violence, suffering and trauma desensitizes people so they don’t even notice those things any more. We watch the devastation of earthquakes, tornadoes, fires and famine, but are blind to the real and personal suffering of those depicted on the screen.
In the same way we develop the sad ability to see the specks in other’s eyes without seeing the log in our own eye. We see so clearly how unruly other people’s kids are but are blind to our own brats’ disobedience. We see the addiction of others to drugs but cannot see our own addiction to shopping, eating or television. But it goes further. Whenever we hear or read the Bible, we see how all the positive things (promises, blessings etc.) apply to us and how all the negative things (rebuke, correction, admonition) applies to everyone else.

This kind of selective vision is very dangerous because it far too soon becomes permanent so that we are no longer able to see the realities even if we want to. Think of the theologian or scholar who just cannot understand the simplest concepts in the Bible because of training their eyes and minds over a lifetime to see just what they want to see. They see things, not the way they are, but the way they want them to be. I am told that if a person wears a pair of glasses that turn everything upside down, it only takes a few days for the mind to invert the image and to make everything look the right way up. The mind is powerful and it causes us to see wrong as right and black as white.

There are many optical illusions, both physically and spiritually. Here in California there are a number of “mystery” spots or houses where water seems to run uphill. To the eye it really seems true until you either place a spirit level next to the water flow or step outside the house and look at things from a clearer perspective. So the antidote to spiritual illusions is brutal honesty and comparing what we see with the absolute. If you just compare yourself with others around you, you may easily be convinced that you are really right, but when you place the plumbline of God’s Word against your life, it becomes very apparent that things are not what they appear to be.

“I counsel you to... anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:18)

Many people are spiritually blind because of pride or because they choose to see only what they want to see. But the scariest reason people cannot see is because they are under God’s judgment! That’s right – the reason they cannot see is a clear sign of the worst kind of judgment any person can fall foul of – God imposed blindness.

When the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables He replied by quoting Isaiah 6:9-10 (Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:39). This must be a very important quote because it appears in every one of the Gospels as well as a few other books. This is how Jesus quoted the verse in John: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them” (John 12:40).

In case you find that difficult to understand, allow me to paraphrase: “God blinded them so that they could not see or understand.” But why does God do that and is it fair? God blinded Israel because they had continually rejected God’s word until the Lord gave up trying to reveal Himself to them and caused them to be blinded. Blindness is God’s judgment on a rebellious and disobedient people.

We all know that God has rejected Israel and turned to the Gentiles (for a while). He did so because Israel rejected Him. But now He warns that we Gentiles need to be careful because if God dealt so severely with His own people, then He will be equally severe with us, who had no claim to His promises to begin with (Romans 11:21). (The quote from Isaiah 6 appears Romans 11 also.) The warning to us is that if God could blind Israel, then He can, and will blind the Gentiles also, if they do not receive and obey His Word.

That is exactly why some people, even Christians, just don’t get the message no matter how much you explain it, or try to convince them that they need to change. They have been blinded and are under God’s judgment. That is a terrible place to be. There are two major forms of God’s judgment: His chastening and His judgment. We can see this in operation in Israel, but also in the New Testament. As long as God is chastening someone, there is hope as He is trying to bring them to repentance and to change. But there is no hope when He gives up on them and no longer chastens or even speaks to them.

There is no more hope for people like that, because once God ceases speaking to them, and the Holy Spirit no longer convicts them, they have no way of repenting. They cannot repent because they see no need for repentance – they are perfect in their own eyes. Jesus spoke in riddles and parables precisely because He did not want the Pharisees to hear or understand and when He gave the interpretation, it was only to the disciples (Matthew 13:13-17).

Just as the Pharisees sat in judgment of Jesus and condemned everything He said and did, so modern Pharisees stand in judgment and criticize those believers who are being obedient to the Lord and His Word, thinking that they are the ones with the “light”. Sadly, nothing can open their eyes. Even seeing Jesus die and rise from the dead was not enough to open the eyes of the Pharisees and nothing that you say or do will ever open the eyes of those who have been blinded by God.

Trying to convince them that they are in darkness is a waste of time since they will think you are totally crazy. Besides, anything you do to try and open their eyes works against God and will not succeed. All we can do for people like that is to pray that the Lord will have mercy on them to open their eyes. God alone can reverse the effects of this terrible form of judgment.

But, let me also warn you to be careful how you judge. It’s easy to see the splinter in someone else’s eye and the judgment with which we judge will be applied back to us (Matthew 7:2ff). At the same time, we have all come across people who are clearly stumbling in the dark, thinking they can see when they clearly cannot.
This also needs to be a warning to each of us, to be careful lest we find ourselves in this kind of darkness and judgment. There are a few things you can do to prevent this from happening to you.
First, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Because every time we resist the convicting voice of the Spirit, we become a little less sensitive to Him and a little more blind. The Spirit did not depart from Samson the first time he played with sin, but gradually, he became less sensitive to the difference between right and wrong and a little more arrogant and self-sufficient until he could no longer see temptations and traps for what they were.

Second, we need to be obedient to every prompting of the Word and the Spirit. Disobedience leads to a hardening of our hearts and a decreasing ability to see spiritual issues for what they really are. Maybe you’ve seen those TV programs about people’s houses that are a filthy mess and wondered how that ever happens. People’s houses become a disaster area because they turned a blind eye to the small messes. Eventually they learn to not see the small messes as well as the big mess that is growing around them. In the same way, people learn to look past the small sins in their lives and when those accumulate and become bigger sins, they are well practiced in not seeing the mess their lives are in. This is sometimes a slow process but it’s results are disastrous.

Third, we need to be willing to listen to correction and criticism. Don’t just assume that criticism does not apply to you, but take it to the Lord and ask Him if there is truth in it. If so, then repent immediately. When we ignore the small warning signs, it becomes easier to ignore the bigger ones also. When we cultivate a habit of shrugging any and all correction off, we soon find ourselves unable to hear or see those messages the Lord sends our way through our brothers and sisters. Treat every criticism as a potential warning from the Lord and discard them only once you have prayed and made absolutely sure that there is no truth in it. Otherwise what happens is, we develop a knee-jerk reaction to reject criticism without listening to it or, even to attack the messenger whenever the message does not please us.

Finally, pray continually that the Lord may open your eyes that you may see even those things you do not want to see.

“Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him” (Matthew 20:32-34).