Ouch!

One of the television programs that Nikki and I like to watch together is the Survivor. 

If you aren't familiar, Survivor is a show where they drop a bunch of people off on a tropical Island.  One by one, they vote one another off until the last two or three plead their case to the others for why they should win a million dollars.  One way you can avoid getting "voted off" is to win immunity.  To accomplish this, you have to win one of the many ridiculous challenges that the show has devised.

One of my favorite "immunity challenges" is the blindfold obstacle course.  It is exactly what you think it is; people running through an obstacle course blindfolded and bumping into anything and everything that might leave a mark as well as one another.

Classic Survivor.

Sometimes you can feel it in your legs when they run right into one of those poles.

Ouch!

Of course, we are all shouting at the screen telling them to go right or to go left, climb or duck, but for some reason, they don't appear to be able to hear us.

Of course, the obstacle course wouldn't be nearly as challenging if they could see.  They wouldn't run into obstacles or one another. It would be much better if they could just take off the blindfold.

Spiritually speaking, we watch people do the same thing.

They go through life like they are wearing a spiritual blindfold, running into everything and one another, and then getting angry at God because of the bumps and bruises.

David reflects on this very truth in Psalm 36.

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD. Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.  For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.  The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.  He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. (Psalm 36:1-4 ESV)

One of the pernicious things that sin does is this; it blinds us to sin.  Those who are steeped in sin rarely have the ability just how sinful their hearts have become. They just keep getting further and further into the obstacle course, bogged down without any way to see their way out of the situation.

David reflects on the ultimate end of such people.

There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise. (Psalm 36:12 ESV)

There is only one solution, take off the blindfold.

Jesus told His disciples how.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. (Matthew 13:15-16 ESV)

In the midst of a people whose hearts had grown dull, whose ears could barely hear, and whose eyes had closed, those who followed Jesus were given eyes to see.

We all face the same obstacles in life, those who follow Christ do so with their eyes open to how God is leading us, strengthening us, and protecting us as we navigate them.

Keep safe, be well, and stay encouraged.

Brian