Dharius Daniels - Are You Blind to Your Own Problems?

Some people are saying I changed. No, I haven’t changed; the difference is that God has opened my eyes. Now that He has opened my eyes, I can see you and that you are not for me the way you say you are for me. The fact that He is a Needs Assessor impacts His activity in two ways: it impacts what He does, but it also impacts how He does it if He chooses to do it. Sometimes I like what you’re doing, but I don’t like the way you’re doing it. Did you hear what I just said? An example of what I’m trying to articulate is found in this passage right here in John 9. All I’ve been doing is preaching John 9; I haven’t quoted the text, but I’ve been preaching the texts. Without mentioning John 9, I’ve been preaching to you everything that’s in John 9, because in John 9, we see a God who is omniscient. In John 9, we see a God who is immutable. In John 9, we see a God who not only meets needs but also assesses needs. In John 9, we get to eavesdrop on a conversation Jesus has with a gentleman who goes unnamed; all the text tells us is that he is a blind man. I’m not even going to bother with that, but when I get to heaven and meet John, I’m going to ask him about that. Because Jesus didn’t do that; John did that. John made a decision: «I’m going to write about you, but I’m going to connect you to your issue and not your name.» Did you hear what I just said? On this side, he said, «See, that’s how some well-meaning people will do you. They will only remember you by the issue that used to plague you.» Watch this now: the text says, John says there’s a blind man, and this is interesting because Charles Spurgeon teaches us this. He says this is the way you need to read the Bible. Charles Spurgeon says every physical and literal ailment in the New Testament is a metaphor for a spiritual or emotional ailment in our lives. If you don’t understand that, it will be hard for you to see the meaning of miracles in Scripture for you. Are you following me? So when you see someone lame or unable to walk or paralyzed in Scripture, it’s a metaphor for being stuck in life. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah, when you see someone in Scripture who’s unable to speak, it’s a metaphor for people who’ve lost their voice spiritually. I’m not going to bother with this relationally or professionally. When you see someone who cannot hear in Scripture, it’s a metaphor for people you can’t get through to; people who will hear but not listen. In order for you to get through to those people, you need God to open their ears. Sometimes it’s not your presentation; sometimes it’s not your conversation; sometimes it’s not your timing. Sometimes you need God to do something in them before you can say something to them that will actually get through. I need to pause because I know all your relationships aren’t perfect. I know every area of your life isn’t perfect; I know there are some areas where you need God to get through to people. My prayer should be, «Lord, open their ears. Lord, open their ears; curate a circumstance that makes them open to hear what they were not previously open to hear. Give me the wisdom so that when I see them in a circumstance that you’re using to make them open, I don’t rescue them from what they need, which is going to put them in a position for You to get through to them.» He’s a blind man, which means, metaphorically, he can speak to a person living life with no vision. Helen Keller is quoted as saying this: the only thing worse than being blind is having sight with no vision. He is living a visionless existence. The text says he’s been blind since birth, which means he’s never lived life with vision, so darkness is normal. Did you hear what I just said? Darkness is normal. He’s been in darkness so long that he knows how to survive in it; he knows how to navigate his way through darkness. Darkness is all he knows. So, darkness is normal for him, because we can deal with darkness or dysfunction for so long that we become functional in the midst of dysfunction, not realizing it’s still dysfunctional even though I’m functional in it. Here’s the thing: I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to walk around in the dark, but if you have, it increases the likelihood of injury. Did you hear what I just said? You can bump your toe, or you can run into something with your forehead, because when you operate in a visionless existence, it increases the likelihood of injury. There are some injuries we’ve suffered relationally, some injuries we’ve suffered emotionally, some injuries we’ve suffered spiritually, and some injuries we’ve suffered professionally because we’ve been walking around in the dark. Let me tell you, some people like you better when you’re blind. Because, yes, some people are saying I changed. No, I haven’t changed; the difference is that God has opened my eyes. Now that He has opened my eyes, I can see you and I can see that you are not for me the way you say you are for me. But watch this; I don’t know if you’ve walked around in the dark.