By the Hand

This morning I was reading the account of the healing of the blind man in Mark's Gospel (chapter 8).  A verse caught my eye:  "he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village".  Why did he do that?  Why not just heal the man where he stood?  I couldn't get the image out of my mind:  Jesus holding the man's hand, guiding him away from the village where he lived before he healed him.  Since this verse wouldn't leave me alone, clearly God had something to say to me in this.  In my blindness - and in the place where I stand in that blindness - God is calling me away and offering to take my hand so I don't have to find my own way out. 

I'm discovering a few things about myself as I walk through a process of deeper trust and faith.  And, in a manner of speaking, they are blind spots to God's love and goodness towards me.  I can sense him standing with me, offering his hand, ready to lead me out of this blindness into a place of clearer vision and understanding - a deeper knowing and trust in his goodness and faithfulness. 

I wonder why it's so difficult to let go of those old ways.  It's no wonder this letting-go is described as dying to self.  It is a death and it's definitely not easy.  We can hang on to these old ways and thought patterns as if it were a life and death battle.  God's ways are so much easier and so much less stressful!  The desert-wandering-Israelites weren't the only stiffnecked people -- I've been feeling my own neck stiffening a little.  Lord, have mercy!! 

Jesus heals the blind man in the Mark account in two steps - his sight is gradually restored - and all the while Jesus is lovingly ministering to this man, not giving up on him.  That's so reassuring!  As my spiritual eyes are gradually opening to the reality Jesus is revealing to me these days, I can trust that the process is in His hands, in His timing, and leading me to the point of seeing more clearly.  And just like the man in Mark's gospel, I don't need to return to that former place of living in my blindness.  "Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  And he sent him to his home, saying, 'Do not even enter the village.'" (Mark 8:25-26)

Isn't it interesting that the next passage in this text is Peter's cofession of Jesus as the Christ?  Our Lord asked his disciples - "Who do you say that I am?"  He's asking me that question these days.  Who do I really believe Jesus is - in my life, my decisions, my future - and am I ready to trust him to lead me into a new way of seeing him?  "He took the blind man by the hand and led him...."