Blinding Knowledge

“Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17

Blinding Knowledge

Do Not Know – What you see it what you get.  So the saying goes.  In our world, we are taught to judge something by the data we can gather, the tests we can perform and the information we can observe.  We are a “sight” oriented culture.  If I see it, it must be real.  If I can’t see it, I have reason to doubt.

Visible confirmation is important.  Knowledge by accumulating facts is essential.  But God’s vision to John proclaims that something else matters more than what I can see.  God says that I can have all the evidence the world would want but it does nothing more than blind me to the truth.  Think about the emphasis that the Bible places on hearing rather than seeing.  “Hear, O Israel”.  “Those who have ears, let them hear”.  Why does that Bible make this kind of shift?  Because faith comes by hearing, by listening and trusting and obeying, even when we cannot see.  In fact, Jesus specifically blesses those who have not seen and scorns those who are constantly asking for a sign.  The visible is not the only reality.

In this verse, the visible is actually a hindrance.  We look at wealth and think security.  We look at riches and think independence.  But God warns us that sight is seductive.  If we see, but do not listen, we will be deluded.  What God sees is wretched sinfulness, tormenting guilt and poverty of mind, body and soul.  That’s what He tells us.  But we do not hear Him because we are transfixed by the visible.  Sight blinds us to the truth.

What can we learn from the circumstances described in Revelation 3?  “Listen to me”, says God.  “Do not rely on the external evidence.  My word is the truth, the only truth that matters.”

Do you hear what God is saying to you?  Are you listening?  Is His voice the bedrock of truth in your life?  Or are you being blinded by what you see?

“Father, help me hear You.  Blind me to the sight of false imagines so that I may be fully attuned to Your voice.”