I Want To See - Tony Manley

“What do you want Me to do for you?”  Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to SEE.”  Mark 10:51 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall SEE God.” Matt. 5:8 “Open my eyes that I may SEE wonderful things in your law.” Ps. 119:18 “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have SEEN the Lord!”  John 20:18a “The disciples were overjoyed when they SAW the Lord.”  John 20:20b I love the question Jesus asked the blind man.  The answer is expected, yet complicated!  A blind person would say, “I want to see” because he knows he is blind, but what about the person who doesn’t know what he needs? I have asked and lately been answering this question in my heart.  What do I want Jesus to do for me?  I found that the things I wanted I had already been given –joy, peace, forgiveness, contentment, faith, His presence, His attention, His guidance, comfort, His Word, promises, His ways.  So, what is it that keeps me from SEEING clearly and correctly that I have what I want?  I think I am learning (SEEING) that God wants me to SEE Him in my moments - the good, bad, and the ugly.  God wants me to SEE Him in people –the good, bad, and the ugly.  God wants me to SEE Him in the circumstance – the good, bad, and the ugly.  This is my struggle: to SEE God in the everything and the everywhere.  Yes, I want to know He is in the “thing,” but I want to make His image fit my expectation or “how I think this should be!” SEEING God with my heart in the moment (after all, isn’t life just a whole bunch of moments stacked together?) frees me.  The times I truly SEE Him, I catch myself at peace!  The warring is diminished and the moment is given to faith in His heart.  Can I just say- I love when my “heart eyes” are focusing well!!! All of us as pilgrims are at different places on the path…so I know the terrain for our place on the journey looks different, but each of us has access to the One who opens our eyes and causes us to SEE clearly.  Whether raising children, navigating marriage, juggling people, work, health, finances, or calamities, the number one need for a child of God is to SEE God.  He always SEES us, our hearts, thoughts, and loves us perfectly.  I say let’s learn to SEE Him moment by moment and encourage one another to keep SEEING – never giving up. Blind Bartimaeus made a spectacle of himself shouting at Jesus when he heard that Jesus was coming, even when people told him to hush! (MK. 10:47-48)