Day 58 | I Am the Light
April 28, 2015 - WEEK NINE
El Greco, Healing the Blind,
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
DAILY READING
CONSIDER AS YOU READ
- Have you ever been cast out of or barred from a place or situation? How did you feel?
- How does sin cause spiritual blindness? How can a person have physical sight and be spiritually blind? And vice versa?
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
A simple little formula it was. A little spittle, a little clay, a simple anointing, a simple command, and an act of faith obedience; and darkness was replaced with light. “Lord, I believe” (John 9:38), he said as he worshiped in gratitude. Blind obedience, would you say? It was a blind man, but a seeing obedience….
Strange—we provide pure, sterile tissue for spittle and forbid expectorating even on sidewalks….
But here the Master disregarded all our rules of sanitation and prescribed spittle, germ-ridden clay, and impure water from the contaminated pool of Siloam which bathed the sweaty bodies of laborers and the sore bodies of the sick and diseased.
Is there healing in mere clay to make eyes see? Is there medicinal value in the spittle to cure infirmities? Are there curative properties in the waters of Siloam to open eyes of congenital blind? The answer is obvious. The miracle was conceived in the womb of faith and born and matured in the act of obedience.
Had the command involved oil instead of spittle, herbs instead of clay, and waters of a pure bubbling spring instead of filthy Siloam, the result would have been the same. But some would have said that oil and herbs and pure water had healed the eyes, but even the untrained must know that these could not cure one. Consequently, only one conclusion could be drawn: The unparalleled miracle was positively the result of faith obedience. But had the sightless one disobeyed any of the phases of the command, he would indubitably have suffered till death with continued blindness (Spencer W. Kimball, “Blind Obedience or Obedience of Faith,” Conference Report, Oct. 1954).
READ FULL TALK
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
- Do we sometimes think when people have problems it is because they have sinned?
- Why was the healed man so ready to believe in Christ and the pharisees were not? (Hint: he was hum_ _ _)