I saw a “tweet” today that caught my attention – it said “How do you design something that you can’t see?” The “tweeter” went on to provide a link to an interview with a blind architect who is able to design buildings without the benefit of his sight. While this article was interesting on its own merit (here’s a link in case you want to watch the interview yourself), for once in my life, I had a more spiritual thought when I read those words. I’d like to think that I’m just really in tune with the Holy Spirit these days, but it probably had to do with the fact that my pastor talked about spiritual sight on Sunday morning.
In a sense, I ask myself that same question almost every day when it comes to my faith walk. How do I design something – build my life, walk out my calling – when I can’t see the beginning from the end? How can I do my part to help build God’s kingdom without a physical blueprint in front of me? How do I know which way to turn when I can’t see the road in front of me?
I hate to admit how many times I have cried out to God, saying “If you would just SHOW me!!!”
I think there are some interesting parallels between this architect’s path of learning to function without his physical sight and our journey to learn how to walk by our spiritual sight.
For example, he points out that, in the absence of sight, you have to learn to rely on all of your other senses. But, when you can see, your mind is constantly being filled with massive amounts of information that help you to navigate. It’s easy to just rely on that information to get you where you need to go. The same is true spiritually. When we can clearly see what needs to be done in the physical, it gives us a certain degree of confidence. We think “I can take it from here” – and off we go on our own. The problem is, we can only see a tiny piece of the picture with our physical eyes. God, on the other hand, can zoom out and see what came before and what’s coming down the road. If we rely on our physical sight rather than trusting in our spiritual sight, there’s a real danger that we’ll “miss the forest for the trees” as the old saying goes.
Our pastor shared a great word on Sunday that included the following statement: “Let your line-of-sight penetrate that which you’ve been taught as boundaries between the spiritual and the physical.” The example of this architect also helped me to unpack that sentence. When he lost his physical sight, he was forced to learn to use his other senses and tools like his cane to help him find his way. They bridged the gap between his physical condition and the reality of living in a world geared towards sighted people. In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us to bridge that gap between the physical realm where we live and the spiritual realm where God lives and where He can clearly see the path that we need to travel. If we cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit – if we take time to be still and learn to hear His voice – we’ll begin to “see” with our spiritual eyes the path the God is laying out before us, and we’ll know which way to go.
The reality is, we have to learn to walk by faith – it doesn’t come naturally. Nature trains us from an early age to rely on what we can see (physically) and to be skeptical of what we can’t see. That’s one of the reasons we don’t like the dark – We can’t see what’s waiting there for us. In the same way, this architect in the interview had to learn to navigate through buildings without his sight. He said that he had learned to listen for the footfalls of other people to help show him the way to go. That statement immediately brought to mind the book of Hebrews and the “great cloud of witnesses.”
Hebrews 11 is all about walking by faith. In fact it even defines faith this way: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1) True faith requires spiritual sight. It goes on to say in verse 2 “This is what the ancients were commended for.”
The author then proceeds to review story after story of great men and women who dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. In verse 39, it says that “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” They followed even though they never saw (with their physical eyes) what they were seeking.
If we want to improve our ability to navigate through this life by relying on our spiritual sight rather than our physical sight, we would do well to study the lives of these men and women – to listen to the footfalls of those who have walked the same path, if you will.
I know that I want to be more intentional about sharpening my spiritual sight. I want to be able to hear and know and understand the voice of the Spirit. I love the description of the sheep and the shepherd in John 10:4-5 (CEV): “When (the shepherd) has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away.”
Father, help me to be like a sheep who knows your voice and follows it – even in the dark and unfamiliar places. Help me to sharpen my line of sight so that it can penetrate the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to help me in the journey. Amen.
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