God leads the 'blind'

Trusting God is no walk in the park. It’s something I personally fall and rise in countless times. I’m just glad God doesn’t tire of me and never disappoints every time I rightfully place my trust on him. I'm still in the process of learning more about trusting God, particularly during this time.

I recently had an interesting understanding of a very common verse given to me.  A coupling of 2 Corinthians 5:7 and Isaiah 42:16 lead me to understand that God only leads the 'blind'. Walking by faith being not walking by sight means those who walk by faith are voluntarily blind. They choose to not see though they have the ability to. They make an intentional decision to not lean on their ability to see, but instead shut their eyes towards what is happening around them and lean on God’s speaking instead.

 

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar path I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16

The blind are said to be more dependent on their sense of hearing since their sense of sight is impaired. When Jesus speaks about his flock, he speaks about how they follow him because they know his voice (John 10:4). Following Him is reliant on hearing, not seeing. This is because faith is connected to the sense of hearing over the sense of sight. Romans 10:17 teaches us that faith comes by hearing God’s Word. So, hearing God’s voice initiates and therefore also sustains faith. Those who successfully walked by faith like Abraham heard God’s voice and kept to what he said even though all that was happening around them made it difficult to. We see through Peter when he hears Jesus’ voice calling him out of the boat to walk on water, that he walks perfectly until his faith was interrupted by what he saw (Matthew 15:29-31). He shifted his focus from what he heard to what he saw – he opened his eyes - and so begun to sink.

 

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Romans 4:18-21

 

God leads people who hear his voice and follow, who choose to close their eyes to what is happening and choose to keep to what God says instead. But that’s not the only thing, God speaks about how he leads them along unfamiliar paths. Now the blind are said to thrive in familiarity - they can manoeuvre in familiar places with minimal or no guidance. A pastor I know used to tell how his blind mother would say how anyone who chose to attack her in her house would lose because she knew her house too well. So when God speaks of leading the blind by ways they have not known, he is pointing to dependence - how those he leads will need to depend on him for guidance.

 

It’s quite easy to trust yourself on a journey when you know the road you’re travelling on. You know the tricky bends, the tough inclines, and if it’s in my province, you know exactly where all the potholes are. Basically, you know what to expect. But if you’re travelling on unknown territory, it’s wiser to trust someone who is familiar with the place. It’s no mistake that God choses to lead us along a path we do not know, it is so that we put our trust solely on him. He communicates the same to the Israelites when they are about to enter the promised land; he encourages them to follow his lead because they didn't know the way as they had never been on it before (Joshua 3:4).

 

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

We’re currently travelling down a path we’ve never know. A term consistently used by media is ‘we’re sailing on uncharted waters’ as this generation has never faced a pandemic of this kind. World leaders and scientific experts are grappling to understand this path so they can navigate us through it, so trusting them is not the wisest as it is as new to them as it is to us. But God, as the all-knowing God, is familiar with this unfamiliarity, he knows where we don’t and he can lead us through to the other side of this. Not only can he lead us to the other side, he can make rough places smooth along the way.

But to have this, we need to trust him - with our everything and our all. For him to lead us, we need to depend on what he says and less on what we see. What does God say about healing and life? What does he say about provision and protection? What does he say about hope and deliverance? Shut your eyes, take him at his word - he is a 'man' of his word!

"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." Psalm 9:10