Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Oct 20th, 2023 Do We Really See As Clearly As We Think We Do?

Today’s Passage – Mark 8 – 9 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here  to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 96 – 100; Proverbs 20)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – *Matthew 6:33*

Read the “1020 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this passage – “Hear Ye Him”

“And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? … And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” (Mark 8:17-18, 23-25)

In today’s reading from Mark 8, we first read about the “Feeding of the Four Thousand,” which takes place on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. This is a similar, but different, event from the more famous story of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand.” After feeding the four thousand, Jesus and his disciples leave for Dalmanutha, which is also on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, where he has an encounter with the Pharisees who demand for Jesus to give them some sort of sign to prove that He was the Messiah, which Jesus refuses to do. After leaving the Pharisees and when He and His disciples are back in the boat, Jesus warns the disciples about “the Leven of the Pharisees.” The word, “leaven,” in the Scriptures is often used symbolically as representation of sin. Jesus was really warning them about the sin of the Pharisees, but because He used the word, “leaven,” which is the ingredient used to make bread rise, his disciples thought somehow that Jesus was rebuking them for not bringing any bread with them. They misunderstood what Jesus was saying. They did not “see” or perceive what He was trying to tell them.

Fast forward now to the next story in Mark 8 regarding a man that really could not see; he was blind (vs. 22 – 26). When Jesus healed him, he at first could not see clearly; he stated that he saw “men as trees, walking.” However, when Jesus touched his eyes the second time, he could see clearly. I often wondered why it was that his sight was not wholly restored at the first touch. Did Jesus not use enough power the first time? No, I think that through this healing story is giving us all an illustration regarding spiritual sight or understanding.

Here are some thoughts:

1. When a person trusts Christ, he is given the ability to understand spiritual truth. Lost people cannot comprehend the teaching of the Spirit of God. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
2. However, even saved people do not understand everything that God wants to show them, at least not at first. This blind man did not see clearly at first, and the disciples did not at first understand what Jesus was trying to show them. They needed the help of Jesus to see clearly as well.
3. To some degree, our spiritual understanding is progressive and increases with growth, experience, and obedience to God’s will. As the song says, “we will understand it better by and by.”
4. We will never completely understand all spiritual truth, even when we get to Heaven. Omniscience is an attribute of God. However, in Heaven we will understand a great deal more.
5. We must remember that we are all still blind to some things, especially some of our own problems. There are many things that we do not understand. Yet, our lack of comprehension is even something we have a tough time seeing. We think we see clearly. I am sure the man that was healed of his blindness at first thought he was seeing pretty good, but it was until after Jesus really cleared up his lack of focus on the second touch that he understood that previously his sight, though better, was still somehow limited.
6. There are others who can see things that we cannot see yet because they have been granted clearer sight by God than us. Thus, we need to rely on other people who are a little further down the road spiritually to help us understand things.
7. We need to pray and ask God to open up our understanding.

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)

You and I must realize that we may not be seeing things as clearly as we think we are. We think sometimes that we know it all, but there may be something in our lives that is a little out of focus. We need to be humble enough to admit that we do not have all the answers, and we need God’s help to understand better.