Learning to Live Blind By Pastor Shari Stephens [Pt 3 Control Freak Series] 0

I have long believed that God wouldn’t ask us to do something that we couldn’t learn to do comfortably and with eventual ease though the help of the Holy Spirit. This has been one of the goals of my life, learning how to be a successful Christian.  Learning to walk by faith in all things.  I know this is the way to please God, Hebrews 11:6 says,

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

I also know that for a control freak, this is a frustrating way to live. So, the answer is to get rid of your control, learn to just be obedient and be aware of what you do see.  [Read Pt1 & Pt 2 of series] This lesson is probably one of the most important, however.  You now must begin to learn to live blind.

In studying how blind people learn to adjust to the darkness, I thought that similarly believers could learn how to adjust to a life of faith.  We can learn how to successfully live a life that requires us to walk blindly by faith.

If you happened to the see the movie Ray, about the life of Ray Charles, you will recall the moment in the movie where as a blind child his hearing became heightened.  Science tells us that this is a fact for blind people.  Because of the loss of the sense of sight, they quickly, begin to increase their ability to hear.

This was pure revelation to me for believers. Is it possible that because we must walk by faith and not by sight, that God, through the Holy spirit, has somehow heightened our ability to hear from him?  The scripture says plainly in John 16:13,

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

This entire passage deals with hearing not sight.  Let’s look at another Romans 10:17 says,

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

Again, this is about hearing not seeing.

We are so busy fretting over what we can’t see that we are missing what is there for us to hear!

Ray’s heightened ability to hear allowed him to catch a cricket in his home, walk around the city unaided, and to hear a small humming bird outside of a busy restaurant window.  How incredible!

I believe that God has given believers something much more incredible, the ability to hear from His very spirit. The ability to be led about by God’s own hand.  The ability to not be weakened by relying on what we see but the ability to be strengthened by what we hear. Let us focus our abilities on hearing from God and reading His word.

Rejoice when you are challenged to live by faith because your ability to hear from God is heightened and He will direct your path.