Open the Eyes of the Blind

This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,
who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it: "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:5-7 NIV)

I have been writing these devotions for more years than I can remember now.  As you can imagine, some days it is hard to think of something to write about.  I spend a lot of time reading different articles, blogs, posts, etc. on spiritual topics to find inspiration.  Often I will find myself on a site that attracts comments from atheists.

It has made me believe that being an atheist can be a religion in itself.  It takes just as much faith to not believe in God as it does to believe in God.  One argument they all seem to have in common is the fact that we cannot perceive God with our physical senses, therefore He must not exist. - They don't usually use those words, but the argument boils down to that.

We know that people are sometimes born deaf or blind or sometimes both.  It is hard to imagine being both deaf and blind, isn't it?  One would have to rely on touch, smell and taste to experience the world.  But at least there would be proof that something exists beyond one's self.

Now imagine being born without any of the five physical senses at all!  Your bodily functions all work and you are capable of thinking and reasoning as any other person, but you cannot even feel the bed that holds your body.  Though you cannot sense it in anyway, somehow your needs are being taken care of.  There is no way to connect to the world around you.  Does that mean it does not exist?  Of course not.  The world would go on as it always has, but you would be completely and utterly unaware.

I believe we are all born with spiritual senses as well as physical senses.  Most of us just do not know how to use them.  If we are open to it, we occasionally get a glimpse of the spiritual realm with the eyes of our soul.  These are those close moments with God... moments of grace... that we hold close to our hearts and that strengthen our faith in times of doubt.

Using our spiritual senses takes practice... prayer, worship and bible study all exercise these senses and make those moments of grace happen more frequently and more vividly.  Atheists don't exercise senses in which they don't believe, so they never get those glimpses.  They are as unaware of God's existance as the poor soul without any physical senses is of their surroundings.

Father,
Help us to exercise our spiritual senses daily so that we may see you more clearly.  Help us to find ways to open the eyes of the soul of our atheist brothers and sisters who need you more than they will ever admit.  Amen.

Joys:  wonderful walk in the mountains yesterday; pedicures; cooler fall weather