November 16, 2019 – Acts 9:8

When he opened his eyes he could see nothing.
—Acts 9:8

There was a young man once, in Old Testament times, who was sorely frightened by an Assyrian army.45 And the prophet, in pity for him, prayed to God, “Lord, open the young man’s eyes that he may see.” And when the eyes of that young man were opened, he saw a sight to make any coward brave, for the mountain was full of the chariots of the Lord. That is the fitting consequence of vision. It reveals to us what we never saw before. It shows us in common hearts unlooked-for things and in common scenes an undiscovered glory.
Suppose we think of the little frets of life, of the little pinpricks and unkindnesses that most people experience as they journey. There are folk who brood on such things as these until they practically see nothing else. They tend and water all their little grievances until their blossoms would take prizes at a show. And what I have noticed of such folk is that when through the mercy of God their eyes are opened, of all these little pinpricks they see nothing. Their eyes have been opened to what real suffering is. They were only playing before at being miserable. Their eyes have been opened to that larger life that is always given us in Christ. And the beautiful thing about that life is that worries that were overwhelming yesterday somehow have vanished so that we cannot see them in the love demonstrated on the cross. Every rock and ridge is clear and glistening in the Highland brook when it is low. But when the summer rain falls or the winter snow, then they become invisible. And I have found it so in many people’s lives when a new tide of being has possessed them. Things that were sharp and hard and hurt yesterday, somehow have become invisible today.
—George H. Morrison