I want a time machine. To go see the future so I can plan accordingly. To go back to the past so I can know what I don’t know already. Mainly, to never be blind-sided by the difficult or the easy moments of life.
Right now, I feel blind. I have been reading Jeremiah and was struck by the same blindness in the lives of the Israelites. They are blind to the power of their God and instead turn to idols. They are blind to their wickedness as they do terrible things and are self-righteous. They are blind even when they hear God’s voice through prophets like Jeremiah who call them to repent.
It seems crazy. Why would you NOT turn to God? I asked myself why anyone would turn away from the God who gives them everything they could ever need and so much more. But, I realized that I do the same thing. I decide that my desires for what I want are better than the God I need. I decide that I am basically a good person when I think that if I maybe just do one little good thing that I’ll become good; although, in reality, I fail constantly. I decide in times of uncertainty to stay uncertain instead of clinging to the certainty of the truth in the Bible and with God.
I wonder what we would have done differently last year if we knew that there would be a pandemic coming. Would we have started developing a vaccine earlier? Would we have gone out more? Would we have pursued more opportunities that we did not? I have no idea because we did not know. And now, we don’t know when the end of this pandemic will come. We did not know when the pandemic would begin and we do not know when it will end. But, God does.
The media always goes to experts to ask what their thoughts are on the vaccines or on reopening or on anything else. We have the ultimate expert. On life, on the pandemic, even on the future. And yet, we always reject Him.
We choose to be blind. Eve chose to forget and be blind to the greatness of the God who not only made her but also walked beside her. Why do we choose blindness when we could see? I think the reason is that we do not believe in who God really is. We do not believe that He can satisfy us when in fact He is the only One who can. We do not believe the amazingness of this God who gives us grace! We need to look through the world with the perspective of our God! And even though we are choosing to be blind, we can be chosen by God to see!
As Charles Spurgeon said, “I have a great need for Christ. I have a great Christ for my need.” Isn’t it amazing? God promises sight to those who continually push Him away by closing their eyes through the amazing, redeeming work of Christ!
Imagine it with me. The great God of glory. He is everywhere. He is opening His arms for us to run into. He leads us to beautiful fields and flowers and golden rooms and says that it is all for us. We cannot see these unless we open our eyes to the beauty of our God and of the salvation that gives sight to the blind.
I remember a sermon in my church from a couple of weeks ago about the healing of the blind man in John 5. I found it fascinating that this blind man was placing his trust in Solomon’s Pools that were known at the time to be magical almost. Then, Christ comes and heals him on the Sabbath. Yet, the Pharisees and religious leaders could not stop looking to the law, especially the laws they had created for the Sabbath, to save them. They had the Savior working in front of them but they were blinded to their brokenness by their unbelief.
I wonder if that is me. If I have, too often during the past couple of months, looked away from God as I tried in vain to fix the holes that the pandemic showed in my life. I turned towards recreating plans and goals instead of peace in God. As Proverbs 19:21 says, “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail” [NKJV].
And although this surprises me, the Lord’s purpose is this pandemic right now. He is working through these times in ways that I cannot imagine. He is convicting me of sin I was blind to, using me for plans that I cannot see, and making me only look to Him as the One I trust.
Interestingly, God’s view on life is almost like He has a time machine because He sees every moment of life. The even better part is that He gives us a peek of His view. In the Bible, He tells us the beginning and He tells us the end. He even tells us about special parts in the middle. So, when we go to Him, we can see.
I don’t need a time machine anymore when I have the God who controls time. With Him, my eyes will be open so I won’t be blindsided by life. With Him, I can experience the blessings of His glory forever.
So, I challenge you at this moment to stop looking for the time machine and instead look to God and His view to truly be blessed.
