THE MORE WORRISOME BLINDNESS

“Who is blind, but my servant?” — Isaiah 42:19
Scripture Readings (KJV)
“Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent?” — Isaiah 42:19
“For now we see through a glass, darkly…” — 1 Corinthians 13:12
“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” — Luke 24:45
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” — Psalm 119:18
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness…” — 2 Peter 1:3
There is a blindness that is understandable. It is the blindness of those who do not know God, who have not encountered His truth, and who have never walked in His light.
But there is a more worrisome blindness.
It is the blindness of those who have been enlightened.
The blindness of those who possess the Scriptures but have not discovered their depths.
The blindness of those who stand over wells of living water yet draw so little from them.
The blindness of those whom God calls “My servant.”
God’s question through Isaiah is startling:
“Who is blind, but my servant?”
One would expect the Lord to speak of idolaters, rebels, and unbelievers. Instead, His concern is directed toward His own servant. This is what makes the blindness so troubling. It is possible to be near divine things and yet fail to perceive them. It is possible to handle sacred truth without fully apprehending it. It is possible to have light and yet lack sight.
This is the more worrisome blindness.
The disciples illustrate this truth vividly. They walked with Christ, heard His teaching, witnessed His miracles, and listened to His exposition of the kingdom. Yet after the resurrection, they still struggled to understand what had been written concerning Him.
Then came a transformative moment:
“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”
The Scriptures had not changed.
Their understanding had.
What they had previously read, they now saw.
What they had previously heard, they now understood.
What had always been present suddenly became clear.
This remains one of the greatest needs of the Church today—not merely more information, but more illumination; not merely more reading, but more seeing.
For Peter tells us that God’s divine power “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.”
Not some things.
Not many things.
All things.
Everything necessary for life, godliness, spiritual maturity, wisdom, discernment, ministry effectiveness, victory over sin, and fruitful service has already been provided in Christ.
The question is not whether God has supplied it.
The question is whether we have discovered it.
Much of what God has given remains hidden within the vast treasury of His Word. The Scriptures are not merely a book to be read; they are a mine to be explored, a treasury to be searched, and a well from which living water must continually be drawn.
How many servants of God are diligently digging and drawing from that well of resources?
Many draw enough to prepare sermons.
Few dig deeply enough to uncover treasures.
Many visit the well.
Few dwell beside it.
Many admire the Scriptures.
Few search them relentlessly.
Many possess the treasure.
Few uncover its riches.
The tragedy of our generation may not be that God has withheld revelation, but that we have settled for the surface while standing above immeasurable depths.
Paul’s confession remains true:
“For now we see through a glass, darkly.”
Even the most mature believer sees only in part. The deeper we go into God, the more we discover how much remains unseen. Every revelation exposes further horizons. Every treasure found reveals countless treasures yet undiscovered.
God’s riches are not hidden from His people; they are hidden for His people. They await those who seek, search, knock, meditate, and dig.
Therefore, the prayer of the psalmist must become the continual cry of every servant of God:
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Not because God has not spoken.
But because we have not yet seen all that He has said.
Not because provision is lacking.
But because discovery is incomplete.
Not because the treasure is absent.
But because our eyes have not yet been fully opened to behold it.
The more worrisome blindness is not the blindness of those without light.
It is the blindness that remains in those who have received it.
And the cure is the same now as it was for the disciples:
“Then opened he their understanding.”
May God save us from the blindness of familiarity, from the assumption that knowledge is understanding, and from the illusion that exposure to truth is the same as apprehension of truth.
May He open our eyes.
May He open our understanding.
May He lead us into the unsearchable riches of Christ that He has already made available to those who diligently seek Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, deliver me from the more worrisome blindness—the blindness that can remain even in one who has received light. Forgive me for every assumption that I have already seen enough, learned enough, or understood enough of Your Word. Thank You that by Your divine power You have already given all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Grant me the humility to keep learning, the diligence to keep searching, and the hunger to keep digging. Open my eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your law. Open my understanding as You opened the understanding of the disciples. Let me not merely possess Your truth; let me perceive it. Let me not merely stand by the well; let me draw deeply from it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Meditation
If God has already given all things that pertain unto life and godliness, what treasures remain undiscovered in my life—not because God withheld them, but because I have not yet asked Him to open my eyes?