Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

• Exodus 4:10-12

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
    the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.

• Psalm 146:7-8

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

• Matthew 23:16-26

”I believe that the primary moral principles on which all others depend are rationally perceived. We ‘just see’ that there is no reason why my neighbour’s happiness should be sacrificed to my own, as we ‘just see’ that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another.”

• C. S. Lewis, Miracles

In the first Scripture, Moses is in his “excuses” phase of his calling to lead the people out of Egypt.  Most people interpret the slow speech and tongue to mean stuttering, but I have always felt that Moses was an introvert.  Introvert practice what they are to say before they say it, to see if it sounds right.  Impatient people, like Pharoah, would get irritated asking a question and Moses sat there thinking about how to answer.  But God has answers for all of Moses’ excuses.  God states that He either makes people blind or lets them see.  In context, this blindness is not just in eyesight, but in spiritual awareness.

Jesus healed the blind, but He also called the Pharisees blind.  Their religiosity and piety kept them blind.

When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they were given that ‘sight’ in which C. S. Lewis speaks.  We are all given that ‘sight’ so that we know good from evil.  We did not invent it out of our own goodness, for we have none.  But as we have that ‘sight’ built within us, we also have a sin nature.  Adam and Eve saw their nakedness and they became ashamed.  Why?  Because they could see the good and the bad.

C. S. Lewis is correct in that we down deep inside ‘see’ that our neighbor has the right to his things, just as we have the right to our things, but when our moral code gets corrupted, our inner moral ‘sight’ becomes blind to what C. S. Lewis rightfully says that we have.

We can gain our inner sight back by recognizing that we must conform to God’s will, thus rejecting the moral decay of this world.  We must repent.

It is odd how Jesus is attacking the most outwardly moral people of the early first century.  The Pharisees had rules upon rules, ad they knew how to follow them or give the impression that they followed them.  They were above reproach until Jesus had people look behind the curtain to find a house of cards.

Have we accepted the worldview of anything goes and all that God labels as sin is something that is not bad at all?  Have we created a form of religion that has no substance, a house of cards, that has no soul?  Both directions are equally just as lost.

We must repent and ask Jesus into our hearts to cleanse us and make us more like Him.  Rather than us pretending to be good or pretending that bad is good, we can be more like Jesus by having a relationship with the One and only Savior.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.