“Out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” Isaiah 29:18

When reading this passage, I could not help but to notice these words stuck out. The 1st reading today tells of the power of the Lord, and the redemption that we are promised. In due time, all will be restored—God will right every wrong and bring joy to his people. But in thinking about this, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be blind. It is something that I certainly take for granted, never even having to wear glasses. I close my eyes and try to imagine what it would be like to not see colors, trees, mountains, sky, sea, a church, other people, or even myself… try to imagine what it would be like if my eyes were “closed” all the time. Then open my eyes up and try to imagine if I was seeing all this for the first time. Even the most basic object looks amazing! The stapler on my desk, the bible next to me, not to mention the glowing windows of downtown buildings bright against the dark star specked sky. I’m sure it would be quite overwhelming at first!

Now, as I said, I’m not physically blind, but I think that same situation still applies to all of us. My sight is fine, but my vision is far from perfect. There are many things that I look at that I do not understand; times in my life where I only see despair, and not hope. Other times where I fail to see others as made in the image of God. How much of my time am I blind to God’s presence in my life and throughout creation? Just like the blind man, I can scarcely imagine what would it be like to always see the world, but in this case seeing the world as God intended it, out of the gloom and darkness. Perhaps you have heard the song “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath. In the song he asks the Lord “to give me Your eyes for just one second…so I can see everything I keep on missing.” Having just a glimpse of what is really out there, just a glimpse of the world through God’s eyes would seem to suffice for us, and yet in God’s love we will receive not only this glimpse, but our eyes will be fully opened. God promises to restore us to that holy state for which we were made and to see His face, and on that day we will certainly be amazed, and maybe a little bit overwhelmed, at what we see as well.