I've been ruminating lately on blindness, darkness, and casseroles. Say What? Bear with me!
The bible is full of examples of blindness, both spiritual and physical. Some physical blindness God heals for His glory. A prime example of both is found in John 9, where Jesus encounters a man who had been blind from birth. The disciples ask him,
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
I find it interesting that the disciples' heart response to seeing this poor man wasn't "Jesus, can you please heal him?" But rather, they wanted Jesus to settle a theological argument. In their worldview, Healing was from God and Sickness was only from the Devil. (That erroneous doctrine still gets preached today.) So if a believer isn't healed, then either someone sinned, or someone doesn't have enough faith (ALSO Sin!) "So Jesus, which is it here?" The disciples cared more about being RIGHT, than about helping this man. DUDE!!! But hey, I've been there. How many homeless holding up signs have I driven past because I assume this grifting is their regular job and at the end of their shift they drive their nice car home to their nice house. And it's true in some cases. But certainly not all. But I digress. (You can beat me up on this later.)
Jesus heals the man, which starts a fight with the local religious leaders, who promptly kick the healed man out of their church. God had done something special in his life that didn't fit their theology (healing on the Sabbath) AND he he had the audacity to point out their own theological limitations. Verses 24-34 tells us:
A second time they summoned the man who had been born blind. "Give glory to God," they said, "We know this man is a sinner." He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!" Then they asked him, "What did he do to you, how did he open your eyes?" He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?" Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! WE are disciples of MOSES! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know were he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening they eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
So here we have physical blindness healed, and spiritual blindness exposed, and NOT healed. Sometimes people CHOOSE to be spiritually blind, and eventually must be left alone. CS Lewis wrote a much beloved series of Children's Books called The Chronicles of Narnia. In the final book of the series, The Last Battle, the battle goes badly and the last King of Narnia and the children Aslan sent to help him are tossed one by one into a smelly stable by the enemy. The stable is to be set on fire, burning them alive as a sacrifice to the demon god Tash.
Once inside, they are much surprised to discover that they are in a beautiful meadow, with a feast laid out at a table, and the Kings and Queens of old waiting for them to come and eat. They also notice a clump of dirty and bloody Narnian dwarves who had also been tossed through that evil door. But instead of enjoying he blue sky, the meadow, and the fine food, they were huddled off by themselves in a miserable little clump.
The kings and queens and children tried to point out their wonderful surroundings, to invite them to the feast, and even tried to bring them amazing food. All was rejected in anger. "You're not going to take US in!!! The Dwarves are for the DWARVES!!!" They were prisoners in their own minds, and nothing could be said to persuade them.
I have encountered folks like that a time or two. Some were precious to me and it grieved my that I could not persuade them. Others meant nothing to me, but I tried to talk to them out of obligation. But the end result was the same, and I had to walk away. It sucked. But sometimes that's what must be done. To walk away.
The scriptures also have examples of God Himself causing blindness for his purposes (which directly disproves the idea the God ONLY heals and sickness and infirmity comes ONLY from the devil-- "Bad theologian! BAD!") In 2 Kings 6 the prophet Elisha has been making trouble for the king of Aram by telling the king of Israel where the next ambush will be, so he can avoid it. In frustration, the king of Amram sends an army to capture Elisha so he can then get on with properly winning the war against Israel.
When the servant of the man of God got up went out early the next morning, and army of horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are for us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened his eyes, and he looked and saw the hill full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them, "This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he lead them to Samaria. After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. When the king of Israel say them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?" "Do not kill them," he answered. Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.
So in this case, God caused mass blindness, let them stew for awhile, and then healed them all. To showcase his power, and to let them know that Israel was under Divine protection. Continuing the raids was a waste of their time. And so they stopped. But I wonder... How fast did word get around Aram about what the God of Israel could do? And how they were blind men, surrounded by enemy soldiers, and God showed them MERCY? Not only mercy, but fed a great feast and sent on their way? What enemy's God DOES this??? Did this God of Mercy really care about them too- soldiers of the enemy? In fact, He DID! Amos 9: 7 in The Message tells us:
"Am I not involved with all nations? Didn't I bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Qir?..."
Its right there! God didn't just care about Israel. He cared about their neighbors, the Arameans too. And he used blindness to get their attention. And then he healed them. God did the same with Saul on the road to Damascus. He spoke to Saul, struck him blind, talked to him for three days while he sat in darkness, and then healed him.
Sometimes though, God changes up the recipe a bit. God will take a believer, his child who TRUSTS him, and will deliberately bring them to a place of darkness. A place where they can't see. A place where they don't understand what God is doing, or WHY? As a faith exercise. The great prophet Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3:1-2, quoted from The Message:
"I am the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of GOD's anger. He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch black darkness."
This was the passage God gave me right before I went into the hospital with Covid, a place of great darkness for me. He took me by the hand and walked me into the pitch black darkness of the Covid forest, and then he walked me back out.
Sometimes God sets us up. He CREATES the darkness and uncertainty in our lives to bring us to a place where we MUST trust him, because we can do nothing else. Jeremiah 30:5-8, in The Message tells us:
" 'Cries of panic are being heard. The peace has been shattered.
Ask, around! Look around!
Can men bear babies?
So why do I see all these he-men
holding their bellies like women in labor,
Faces contorted,
pale as death?
The blackest of days,
no day like it ever!
A time of deep trouble for Jacob--
but he'll come out alive.
" 'And then I'll enter the darkness..."
Wow. This last line gives me chills. "AND THEN I'LL ENTER THE DARKNESS." You know, we define darkness as the absence of light. and a place of spiritual darkness as a place where God is not. 2 Corinthians 6:14 tells believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, because "what fellowship does light have with darkness?" But yet, Jeremiah tells us that God ENTERS our darkness. He is there. With us. When we can't see. When we can't understand. When we have no hope. He enters our darkness...
Years ago, I was in crisis. I was trying to go to Missionary school on the Mercy Ship Anastasis. I didn't have the money to go, I didn't have the money to stay, and I had just lost my job and couldn't stay in my apartment much longer. I had no idea what to do. I was crying out to God on the floor of my apartment, at a total loss, and God showed me something. He showed me a Vision-- one of my first ones ever!
In this vision, I was swimming in the absolute middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and it was midnight. There was a narrow beam of a spotlight shining on me with about a a 6 foot diameter - allowing me to see just beyond arms length in any direction. God was showing me JUST enough that I wasn't going to bump into anything while swimming, but no further. Were there scaly monsters all around? Almost certainly! But he was showing me only what I needed to see. The next three feet.
I have a confession. I hate swimming, because I have a tremendous fear of drowning. I almost drowned as a child, and my father rushed out and saved me. (Thank's Dad!) but even today, having earned the Lifesaving Merit Badge in Boy Scouts and having done the Mile Swim at scout camp, I still loath the water. And being in deep water, swimming off the boat (or without the boat????) NOTHING could give me anxiety like swimming in the in the middle of the ocean and midnight, all alone in the dark. But THAT is where God placed me. In his company, with his Light shining just enough that I wasn't going to bump my head against a lost shipping container. And God was telling me to just keep swimming...
There's a really great Quote I encountered recently:
"He makes us wait. He keeps us on purpose in the dark. He makes us walk when we want to run, sit still when we want to walk, for He has things to do in our souls that we are not interested in." Elisabeth Elliot- Secure in the Everlasting Arms
I think she says it very well. But sometimes-- SOMETIMES, God makes us wait in our darkness, in our uncertainty, for GOOD things! We love to quote Jeremiah 29:11,
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."
That's a GREAT verse! Here, let me claim it again right now! But in context, God had just finished telling the exiles that they were going to be stuck in Babylon for the next 70 years, so settle down and make a life there. Build houses, plant vineyards, get married, have kids, and enjoy their grandkids. Because, um... THIS life there in Babylon was the prosperity God was talking about. Their ordinary everyday life with Him.
But sometimes, God will hint at what He is about to do. He will give us a little glimpse to whet our appetite, to motivate us to press in. To ask questions. He did that with me recently. He showed me an old-fashioned casserole dish. Much like the antique Corningware dishes made by Corning Glass Company in Corning New York. (My grandparents took us to see the Glass Museum there when I was a kid, and I'm sure my Grandpa Kalkan did it purely as a set up for one of his favorite jokes.)
Grandpa- "How much is this vase?" Curator- "Oh Sir, it's PRICELESS!" Grandpa- "Oh, you mean it's FREE! I'll take it!"
So anyway, God showed me this casserole dish, cooking on the stove. As I watched, little blue flowers appeared, growing on the sides of the dish. Bursting forth, blooming right in front of my eyes. Just like in the previous vision of the New Path that had been laid out in front of me. Wow God! (Incidentally, the color blue is symbolic of communion and revelation in prophetic language-- very cool God!) And I knew several things as soon as I saw it:
The ingredients were already in place. There was nothing more to be added. They were already cooking.
This was going to take awhile to cook. At least hours. So I may as well go do something else and stop hanging around the kitchen.
I couldn't see through the glass lid, and IF I LIFTED THE LID TO SEE WHAT WAS COOKING I would delay the result and it wouldn't turn out as good as I hoped
and finally,
GOD WAS COOKING UP SOMETHING GOOD FOR ME, but it wasn't ready yet, so I need to go do something else. He will call me when it's ready and time to eat. Meanwhile, he was saying to me, "MIND YO' BUSINESS!"
Sometimes our lives are filled with light. Other times with darkness and uncertainty. But if we call an Him, He has promised to ENTER our darkness. To sit with us there. And then to light our path.
May He enter your darkness, and may He cook up Something GOOD for you as you are waiting!
image by https://www.thatslife.com.au/your-old-corningware-dishes-from-the-1970s-could-be-worth-thousands-of-dollars
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