Blurred Vision

A few days ago I woke up with something in my eye. I stood up and my vision was blurred. There was a small speck of something clouding my sight. When something’s in my eye not only does this impair my vision but it hurts! It burns and stings! I can’t even keep my eye open because my eye’s natural reaction is to clamp shut to protect itself. My first instinct is to begin rubbing it. I rub and rub and rub and then what is the result? The rubbing irritates my eye so that it gets red and burns more! But my vision is restored because the speck has moved from the center of my eye. I can see for the moment. There is still a slight irritation somewhere in my eye but it’s not overpowering so I ignore it.

Eventually the speck inches its way back towards my pupil and with the slightest encouragement it moves over my pupil. Again, I can’t see a thing! I grab my eye and clench it shut! Beginning to rub it furiously I begin to get angry that I can’t get rid of it. Who can guess how the story continues? I mean obviously it’s an unending cycle. As long as I’m leaving the speck in my eye then I’m not solving the problem.

As this continued to happen the other morning I was reminded of myself. How often do I do that in my own life? The sin in my life clouds my vision, causing me to walk around aimlessly and sinfully. When my sin begins to hurt me I clamp up and cast it into the corner of my life. The evidence of it in my life is most clear because I have irritated the problem. But eventually the irritation calms down and that sin creeps back to the center of my life, causing me to stumble and sin once again. It’s a disgusting cycle.

At this point I often get angry that I can’t get rid of the sin because it keeps coming back! Much like my eye, how can I expect to get rid of the sin when I am leaving it in the picture? Obviously I can’t.

What I had to do the other day was pry my eye wide open, exposing everything and penetrating that protection. Then I, ever so gently, removed the problem and then washed out my eye. Sure the process is often painful and always uncomfortable but that pain will soon wither away and then our vision will be clean and clear to guide us around all obstacles.

This is what I had been failing to do. Completely remove the sin, wash it clean with Living Water, and let the healing happen that is close behind. Then a clear vision can be set before me.