By: Lynette Bloedow
And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:15–17).
‘See the shining dewdrops,
On the flowers strewed,
Proving as they sparkle,
God is ever good, God is ever good.’
I was walking the one-mile trek to high school. For the first time in my life, I knew what that meant. I was seeing with ‘new eyes.’
I used to walk twice the distance to attend primary school. A devotional time marked the beginning of the day for the Presbyterian schools I attended in the West Indies, both at the primary and secondary levels.
One of the hymns we sang from the Hymnary at the primary school was the one with the first stanza quoted above. That hymn came back to me at 17 years old when I could, for the first time in my life, see the dewdrops sparkling like diamonds on the leaves of grass and trees on the way to school. I got glasses!! At last I could see details!
I was marvelling at the beauty of the world, and smiling from ear to ear, because I now understood what I was singing. The world held new vistas for me. I never realized how green the grass was, not how beautiful the sunlight was as the trees filtered it through the forests that lined the road.
These childhood memories helped to form some of the images that bring me great delight. Those are my happy places. And they form the grid that informs the things in Scripture that I ‘see’ for the first time, because I got the glasses of preaching, or Bible study.
For example, when Pastor Lars preaches about ‘nailing’ our sins to the cross with such vivid illustrations, then I see with new eyes.
Or when Pastor Jeremy illustrates what happens when the foundations are destroyed, with pictures of repairing the foundations of his own house, I am seeing with new eyes.
I had a similar experience with cataract surgery. My eyesight was growing dim. I couldn’t read street signs even with my glasses on. I was afraid of getting lost, so I chose to stop driving until I had my surgery.
Remember my first time wearing those glasses? Well, it dawned on me that wearing glasses does not guarantee good eyesight. The root problem, shortsightedness, was not corrected. It was alleviated by an external filter.
Also, my eyes were gradually getting dim because a film was forming over the lens of my eyes, further affecting my shortsightedness. The glasses, which worked for a time, could not function without addressing the root problem. I needed a surgical solution.
And then I got the surgery. On the way home, I was extremely surprised at how many street signs and business names I could read. The impediment was gone. I was seeing with new eyes.
Psalm 119:18 says, Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
