Lord, Open My Eyes

By Curtis Going

Not long after my wife, Jennifer, and I were married, we discovered that I had a vision problem. As we would drive down the interstate, Jennifer would point to a sign and read what it said and I would ask, “What sign?” because I could not see it. Other times, as I tried to steer our vehicle into a parking lot entrance, I would enter the turn earlier than I should have, and I bumped into curbs numerous times and nearly drove into a ditch once or twice. 

I desperately needed to have my eyes checked! So a visit to an optometrist’s office revealed that not only do I not have 20/20 vision, but I have astigmatism—an irregular curvature of the eye that causes blurry vision.  

The optometrist prescribed glasses, and when I put them on for the first time, I realized just how poor my vision had been. With new glasses, smaller letters that had been nearly invisible suddenly became clear. The glasses also made corrections for my astigmatism, so that I could see well enough to steer clear of curbs and ditches. With the help of my new glasses, my 20/20 vision was restored! 

I have learned that my physical eye sight is not the only kind of vision that can get blurry and out of focus. There are times that I need God to touch my eyes and give me spiritual vision to see Him in a fresh, new way. 

Dr. Dennis Kinlaw, in his excellent devotional book This Day with the Master, points out that the Scriptures reference several times when God opened someone’s eyes to see things that they would never have noticed otherwise.  

From the false prophet Balaam who eyes were opened with the help of a talking donkey to see the angel of the Lord standing in his way, to poor Hagar who, along with her son Ishmael, had been kicked out of Abraham’s house and was weeping and waiting to die for lack of water, when God opened her eyes to see a well with all the water she and Ishmael could possibly want, to a servant who was overwhelmed and fearful of the enemy army that surrounded them whose eyes were opened at the prayer of Elisha to see an angelic host that had come to deliver them, to two discouraged disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus whose eyes were opened to see the risen Christ—God is in the business of opening blinded eyes! 

There is nothing that will blind us to the power of the God we serve and to the riches and resources that He freely offers than when we are so focused on our problems or so focused on our own efforts until all we can see are the obstacles in front of us. When our gaze is focused on our own hands and our own work and our own abilities OR when our gaze is focused on our weaknesses and our lack of strengths and abilities, then our problems and perplexities seem massive and insurmountable and our God seems small and insufficient. We need God to open our eyes! Poor spiritual eyesight blurs our vision of God. 

When was the last time that your eyes were truly opened to see the vastness of Who God is? 

O tell of His might and sing of His grace,

Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy space.

His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,

And dark is His path on the wings of the storm. 

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.

Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend! 

At the onset of a brand new year, let us pray, “May the eyes of my understanding be enlightened. Open my eyes of unbelief to see that my work for the Kingdom of God is not in vain. Open my eyes to see potential possibilities for Kingdom building that I have never before noticed. Open my eyes to see You as You truly are. Give me a fresh glimpse of Your power, Your wisdom, and Your divine knowledge. Lord, open my eyes to see that You are ready to help me and ready to give me victory. Lord, open my eyes!”