Have you ever wondered why our efforts at evangelism don’t always have their desired effects? Why the world doesn’t embrace the gospel message?
The answer is actually quite simple: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded…” (2Cor 4:3 NKJV). The world doesn’t embrace the gospel because they have been blinded by the devil.
But why would God allow the devil to blind their eyes?
We get a bit more insight into the blinding of eyes issue in the book of Psalms. Consider the following text: “Their idols…have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” (Ps 115:4-8, NKJV)
In other words, when we put our trust in idols, we become like them: blind, deaf, void of all senses! The devil, then, doesn’t specifically “blind” eyes; instead he lures us into trusting idols, fully knowing that this will dull all of our senses!
To illustrate this, please consider my dog. She is loyal, loving and obedient. In fact, she only has one irritating trait: Whenever her nose is engaged, her ears become blocked. Her attention becomes so completely taken up by whatever odor she is sniffing that there is no concentration left over to even recognize that someone is calling her.
In much the same way, when we put our trust in idols, our attention becomes so completely taken up with the idol that there is no room left over to hear God’s voice, let alone recognize Truth!
Wait. We don’t worship idols in our day and age!
Or do we?
Let’s look at the last verse of the above passage from Psalms: “So is everyone who trusts in them.” (Ps 115:8, NKJV).
This would suggest that anything we put our trust in can become an idol. Most of us have many things in our lives that we trust. We trust people, our churches, our pastors, we trust our jobs, our cars, our neighbors, we trust our own intuition and logic, and mostly, we put trust ourselves and our own ability to handle things!
Why do most non-Christians have such a hard time understanding the gospel message? Because they have trusted in their own religions for so long that their eyes have become blinded to the Truth!
Why is it that most Christians have so many problems resting in Jesus? Because we have put our trust in other things for so long that our eyes have become blinded to Truth!
Why is it so difficult to hear God’s voice? Because we’ve trusted in our own “intuition,” our own “logic” for so long that we’ve become deafened to the voice of God!
There is only one way for me to ensure that my dog will always pay attention: I must ensure there are no odors to sniff–which, incidentally, isn’t possible. The good news is that we can ensure that our attention is not taken up with idols. All we have to do is put our trust in God for all things. We need to lay aside logic. We need to stop trusting that our kids, our spouses or our friends will come through for us. We need to stop trusting our jobs for our incomes. We need to stop trusting that our churches feed us Truth. Instead, we need to put our trust in God and Him alone. Only then will we be able to hear His voice and see where He is at work around us.
Prayer: Father, reveal to us where we have made something of this world into an idol. Help us to stop trusting in anything other than You, for in so doing, You will open our blind eyes and unstop our deafened ears!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.