Walking Blind

I experienced something a few weeks ago that I definitely was not expecting.

I got punched in the face, by a blind kid.

True story.

Now before I go on, I’ll explain the context to this story... I work at a high school with special needs students. This particular student will hit people when he’s not happy, and has surprisingly good aim for being blind.

I’ve been working with this student more often over the last few weeks and it’s incredible how much he can do without sight, including smacking me square in the face.

Over the years I’ve heard the phrase walking by faith not by sight quite a bit. I used to always equate that to believing in the existence of God, even though you couldn’t physically see him. But now, I see it differently.

I have no doubt in the existence of God, but what I have doubted over these last couple of years is whether He’s really who He says He is. If I were to simply look at my circumstances, or the circumstances of friends or family members, one could argue He’s not always good or all that He claims to be. And sometimes, my circumstances and feelings appear to be in opposition to who God says He is.

Feelings

Circumstances

You can learn a lot from them, and they should be given due attention; but, they can’t be a foundation for your belief system.

Walking by faith and not by sight isn’t easy. When that blind student walks somewhere he has to use a cane, and even with that he still runs into things and loses his way… But, with the help of his cane and our guidance, he always makes it to his destination.

My new understanding of walking by faith and not by sight is believing in who God says He is, in spite of my circumstances and feelings... Up until a couple of years ago, there really weren’t any overarching circumstances in my life that were in contrast to who God said He was. My life was easy, and for the most part things were going the way I wanted, so it was easy to say “God is good!”. It didn’t take much faith to say that. I saw it, it was right in front of me.

And then, life happens… You don’t end up where you thought you would and you start to wonder, “God where are you? Why is it happening this way? Aren’t You supposed to be good, all the time?”

That’s the thing about God, He doesn’t want to just leave us where we are. I had a simple faith, but He wants me to have a much deeper, richer faith and trust in Him... And how’s that gonna happen? It’s only gonna happen by putting me in situations where I can’t see how it’s all gonna work out. Where I have to operate simply out of faith, and not by seeing my circumstances coming together exactly how I want.

The amazing thing is, we all have a choice.

We can look at what’s right in front of us and let that determine how we view God; or, we can choose to trust what He says and refuse to be angry because things aren’t going our way.

That’s where I’m at right now... I’m tired of being angry at God. I’m tired of being controlled by my emotions and circumstances.  

I’m ready to start walking, even though it’s dark and I can’t see the way… In the same way I guide that student when he walks, God will guide me and you to where we need to go.

It’s up to us, we can sit in the dark and complain, or start walking.