Sight and Vision

I had eye surgery a few weeks ago, for the second time on the same eye, an attempt to correct a chronic condition called “macular puckering”. It causes skewing and distortion of one's eyesight, and sometimes double vision, always at the wrong times. Left untreated, there would eventually be loss of field vision, retinal damage, and even a greater chance of retina detachment resulting in partial or permanent blindness in that eye. No thank you. I grew up with the eyes of an eagle, but failed to protect them as I should have around my many different entrepreneurial environments. I, like so many, was coached to protect my eyes, but I had no vision of the prophetic wisdom therein. Time to pay the fiddler, again.

There are churches around the country that enjoy putting thought provoking sayings on their outdoor marquees, and they have some pretty good ones at times. Not long ago, several were posted on Facebook and one of them had this to say: “To some God gives sight; To others He gives vision.” Sometimes the words sight and vision can mean the same thing. For example, an optometrist’s office can be referred to as a vision clinic. But in the statement above I think you can see that the two words are to be understood in vastly different ways. To be able to see with your eyes is indeed a great blessing. But to have vision is extraordinary. To see the difference, let’s look at a story from the Bible.

[2 Kings 6] During the time of the prophet Elisha, the king of Aram laid siege to the city of Dothan, hoping to capture Elisha. He sent a strong army with horses and chariots during the night and surrounded the city. When Elisha’s servant got up the next morning, he saw (with his eyes) the vast army. Because all he saw was the army, he felt helpless, saying to Elisha, “Oh no, my Lord! What shall we do?” But Elisha was not afraid. God had given him the ability to see beyond what his physical eyes could see. . He told his servant, “Don’t be afraid; Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (6:16). And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (6:17). As the army came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness,” which God did (6:18). The king of Aram saw his vast army and felt powerful. Elisha had the vision to see beyond physical eyesight. He had faith to see the power of God, and won! Faith is basically having the vision to see what cannot be seen, or as Hebrews 11:1 puts it: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Many have read the account of Jesus healing the blind, but haven’t yet seen that Jesus’ healing illustrated more than compassion for the handicapped. It also demonstrated His power to give vision to the spiritually blind. I can’t help but to giggle a little when I read about the spiritual blindness of those in John 9. Jesus had healed a man who had been blind from birth. In the account, only the blind man had the vision to see Jesus. The religious leaders didn’t (9:28); The man’s parents didn’t (9:20-23); Even the disciples didn’t (9:2-3). Isn’t it ironic that only the blind man had the vision to see Jesus? (9:17; 35-38). Read the whole story. It might open your eyes. Pity the man who can see the sunrise, but can’t see the Son who rose from the dead! Pity the man who can see the stars, but not the Creator of the universe! Pity the man who can see the plant that grows from a seed, but not the God who gives it life. “To some God gives sight; To others He gives vision.” What an awesome thought and gift from God!