BLIND SPOT

The word blind spot has quite a number of meanings according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Two of them are of interest to me for this write-up. Firstly, it’s simply a small circular area behind the retina of the eye which is not sensitive to light. The second meaning of the word connotes, an aspect of one’s life where he/she fails to exercise judgement or discretion. The second meaning is of so much interest to me, even though I will comment on the first later.

There are aspects of our lives we wish no one knows, complains about, or points out to us for correction. It could be a habit, an attitude, or a deed. The chances are that we don’t want to surrender such an area of our lives to God; sometimes because we don’t see anything wrong with it or we don’t wish to change it. How does that usually end? As usual, the Bible is our trustworthy source of life lessons. 

The Merciless Prophet

I would like to tag Jonah as a ‘merciless prophet’ here. Yes, his blind spot was that, he was lacking in his ability to feel or be merciful toward others. This prophet tried to escape God’s command to preach to Nineveh for their repentance. I always thought it had something to do with the fear he had for the people in the city until I  realized it was because of his blind spot. Jonah later expressed his displeasure over God’s mercy for Nineveh after he (Jonah) had gone to warn them (Jonah 3:10 and 4:1-20). He was so angry at God’s mercy that he wanted to die (Jonah 4:3). 

Now this is Jonah’s blind spot: he was not a merciful person, and obviously didn’t see anything wrong with it so he didn’t allow God to help him overcome it. God tried to draw his attention to it (Jonah 4:5-11) but he still felt right in his stance. Thus, just like the dark area behind the retina of the eye that is not sensitive to light, Jonah’s blind spot was not sensitive to the light of God’s word. When you have a blind spot, God respects your freewill, so the least He will do is to prompt you and expect that you respond in obedience. 

Truncated Mission

Let me be brief with this. Moses had problem with his anger, right from his days in the Pharaoh’s palace. At Egypt, he killed an Egyptian while he was trying to save an Israelite from being bullied (Exodus 2:11-12). It seems to me that you have to be so angry to be able to murder someone such as Moses did. He also got so angry to the extent that he destroyed the commandments God had given him because of Israel’s abominable acts of idolatry (Exodus 32:19). These tablets were God’s own handwriting to the Israelites. When Moses’ anger burned over their idolatry, he destroyed them. Moses actually spoke about Israel’s sins and atoned for them but failed to comment on what he had destroyed out of anger (Exodus 32:31-32). God didn’t comment on it in anyway. When you have a blind spot, you usually fail to talk to God about it. This is usually because you have not come to terms with the reality, or you just wish to do nothing about it. 

The breaking point was when he (Moses) disobeyed God because of this same anger. God had commanded him to speak unto a rock to bring forth water (Numbers 20:8). Out of anger over Israel’s numerous complains, he rather hit the rock twice with his rod (Numbers 20:10-11). God had to end his mission, hence his life because of his disobedience and dishonor. This disobedience emanated from his anger. 

I observed that throughout Moses’ leadership and walk with God, he never went before God concerning his anger problems. Perhaps he didn’t even realize it was his blind spot until it truncated his mission to the Promise Land (Numbers 20:12). Just like how little creeping animals can climb into your dress without you realizing, that is how your blinds spots are. 

You need to pray to God to make you realize your blind spot so as to get rid of it by His grace. Otherwise, like Moses, you’d live to become the victim of your blind spot. If you already know your blind spot but remain careless about it, you know what to do now - surrender!

May the Lord mend our nets!