"When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.  He went his way therefore, and washed and came seeing."  The Book of John, chapter 9 verses 6 and 7.

I encourage you to read the chapter in its entirety not only because I find it fascinating, but also because I believe there is a message just below the surface for anyone wanting to find it.  Think about this...the man did not know Jesus as his Savior, and unlike many others with infirmities, this man did not even ask to be healed.  His miracle came in response to a question from Jesus's disciples who wanted to know what sin the man or his parents had committed to deserve the punishment of blindness.  Jesus told them in verse 3  that "Neither hath the man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be manifest in him."  In other words, this man had been blind since birth solely for the purpose of bearing first-hand witness to the power and grace of God.  As Jesus affirmed, the man did nothing to deserve blindness, but he also did nothing to deserve healing...nothing save one act of blind obedience to a Man he did not even know personally.  I imagine it's not as easy as it sounds.  How much easier would it have been for the man to take offense to Jesus, reviling His act and rebuking His command?  How would we have reacted?  What Jesus did made no sense...I mean since when does rubbing clay on a blind man's eye do anything accept make a mess?  And if that wasn't odd enough, His follow up instructions seem to make even less sense.  Why not just wash with the nearest basin of water...why did he have to find this particular pool?  Despite the many possible negative reactions, this man chose not to revile Jesus, he obeyed Him and "came seeing."  He obeyed and was healed.

Sometimes God's leading and direction doesn't seem to make sense to us because our ways are simply not His, AND because until we obey, we are still blind.  I believe there exists a destiny created by God for each of His creations...you and me included.  We have the choice to obey and and experience the richness of  His destiny for us, or refuse His leading and remain in darkness.  Obedience means walking blindly in the direction that He tells us to go...trusting that the pathway in the dark has already been cleared for us. 

God is blessed by our obedience.  He counts it "better than sacrifice." He rewards it by giving us sight, and as with Abraham, He counts our act of faith as righteousness.  And, just so you'll know, in verse 35 through 38 the man receives something more precious than sight, but I'll leave that for those who want to read His words for themselves.

As I sit here 8 hours away from my family for a yet to be revealed purpose, and for an unspecified period of time, I admit that I'm still blind.  But I know Who it is that has sent me and I trust that my pathway in the darkness has been cleared.  I have decided to follow Jesus and I will walk until I reach my pool of Siloam...see you on the way back!

Keith Miller