Sights and Sounds.....Tuesday

We have all heard, or even used these saying, “That’s like the blind leading the blind,” or "They are as blind as a bat.” I wonder, if a person is born blind from birth, how would we explain what a bat is to them? What words could we use if they don’t know a wing from a beak?  Communicating with them would need to include presenting the object and touching, in order to add depth to our description. I couldn't describe the sun or the moon. I could introduce them to a tree, but could I explain a forest in a way that they could see it in their understanding? 

Those of us with sight see forward and peripherally at the same time but put blinders on us and we’re limited, no more seeing out of the corner of our eye.  I wouldn't like that limitation. Then I ask myself, what would it be like to be deaf? Would it be harder to be deaf and to know and understand things, or just different from being blind? 

I can remember being asked, “What’s the matter with you, are you deaf?!”  If I was born without hearing or speech, I would see and perceive with my eyes. But to ask or answer questions, I would have to communicate in a whole different way and not everyone would necessarily be able to understand me, nor would I understand them. Thinking about it I realize how much all the sounds around me are influencing me every moment. Certain sounds make me turn and look out for my own safety. I can't imagine the difficulty in learning to live without sounds.

Truly seeing and listening are two incredible yet different gifts from God (see Proverbs 20:12). While Jesus healed the blind and the deaf during his time on earth, He wants to heal all of us from spiritual blindness and spiritual deafness.

Moses was the prophet who both saw and spoke with God face to face. He gave God's messages to the people. When God told Moses to tell Aaron how to make sacrifices that would please Him and take away the sins of the people, we see an amazing picture of what it takes to take away our own sins.

 Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice

of forgiveness for your own sins and

 for the sins of your family.

 Leviticus 16:6

After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin,

the other one (the scapegoat) must be presented to me alive,

 before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.

Leviticus 16:9-10 CEV

God used the sights and sounds of burnt offerings and a scapegoat to help Israel understand what kind of sacrifice was required for their sins to be removed from them. How grateful I am to learn this lesson through scripture instead of in person. For in God's Word, we can learn that God sent a final sacrifice, a perfect scapegoat, to remove the sins of the whole world.

 For God so loved the world 
that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him 
shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world 
to condemn the world,

but to save the world through him.

John 3:16 NIV

 We didn’t see the signs that God gave to Israel, we didn't hear the prophets declaring His words. BUT we have heard His voice and seen Whom He is in His Word. There’s only One way for us to have spiritual eyes and spiritual ears to understand what God is saying:

You were saved by faith in God, 
who treats us much better than we deserve.

This is God’s gift to you, 
and not anything you have done on your own.

It isn’t something you have earned, 
so there is nothing you can brag about.

God planned for us to do good things and to live 
as he has always wanted us to live.

That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

Ephesians 2:8-10 CEV

So faith comes from hearing, 
and hearing by the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 NASB

Thank you, my sister, for taking this journey with me! Praise God and Amen!

A Hymn for Today: "All Creatures of My God and King" performed by West Coast Revival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECad_5jSduQ

Written by Sandy Schott