Being Comfortable With Not Seeing

We’re going to begin in First Peter 1:8. Follow along with me. “Whom (referring to Jesus) having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Peter says we are able to rejoice with joy unspeakable. Why? Because we have come to a place in our lives that we truly know Jesus and are living our lives through our born again natures. What Peter is also telling us, ladies and gentlemen, is that there is no true joy that gives us a reason to rejoice outside of an intimate relationship with Jesus.

What Peter is also describing in this verse is faith. He says we love Jesus even though we have not seen Him and not only that, but we also believe in Him – in who He is, in what He teaches. We do this and we have not laid eyes on Him, and this leads me to the movie, The Miracle Worker.

The Miracle Worker was released in 1962. It is a biopic about the early teenage years of Helen Keller and one of my favorite movies. She was born in 1880 in Alabama and lost her sight and her hearing after a terrible fever when she was 19 months old. After spending years unable to communicate, Keller became frustrated and occasionally violent.

As a last chance before she is institutionalized, her parents contact a school for the blind, which sends half-blind Anne Sullivan to teach Keller how to communicate. She taught her language and how to read and write. Keller graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and became the first blind person in the US to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She died in 1968 at the age of 87.

A devout Christian, Keller wrote: “Dark as my path may seem to others, I carry a magic light in my heart. Faith, the spiritual, strong searchlight, illumines the way, and although sinister doubts lurk in the shadow, I walk unafraid toward the Enchanted Woods where foliage is always green, where joy abides, where nightingales nest and sing, and where life and death are one in the presence of the Lord.”

Helen Keller’s faith enabled her to be comfortable with not seeing.

Keller’s story reminds me of two verses found in Proverbs 3. We’re going to read the first six verses, but our focus will be on verses five and six.

(1) My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

(2) For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

(3) Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

(4) So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

(5) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

(6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Let’s look at four Hebrew words in this passage: trust, lean, acknowledge and direct.

Trust (#962) means “to trust, to be confident.” It’s feeling safe, secure, and without fear because you have someone you can rely on. In this case, that someone else is God. We read in verse one that the person who knows God’s commandments, who doesn’t forget them, who holds on to them and who keeps them in his heart “trusts in the Lord with all his heart.”

Lean (#8172) means “to rely, to support oneself.” The person who trusts God with all his heart chooses not to trust his own knowledge and wisdom. When we lean on ourselves, we are not leaning on God and trusting Him for His knowledge and wisdom. Big mistake!

Acknowledge (#3045) means “to know by relationship and experience.” One writer brings out the nuances of the word this way: “know him, namely, practically; or own him, his wisdom, by following his counsels; know his power and goodness, by expecting success from him; know his sovereignty, by managing all thy affairs in such a manner as to please and glorify him.” When we acknowledge God, we are like the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus: “Lord, what would you have me to do?” (Acts 9:6)

The last word is direct (#3474). It means “to be right, be straight, be level, be upright, be just, be lawful, be smooth.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is a promise. When we trust God and not ourselves and when we acknowledge Him, He promises to direct us in an upright, just, and righteous way.

Proverbs 3:5-6 describes a person who trusts God so much that he is comfortable with not seeing – not knowing the how but knowing the One who has promised to keep His Word.